title: Femtosecond pulse generation from a topological insulator mode-locked fiber laser.
abstract: We reported on the generation of femtosecond pulse in a fiber ring laser by using a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based topological insulator (TI), Bi2Se3 saturable absorber (SA). The PVA-TI composite has a low saturable optical intensity of 12 MW/cm2 and a modulation depth of ~3.9%. By incorporating the fabricated PVA-TISA into a fiber laser, mode-locking operation could be achieved at a low pump threshold of 25 mW. After an optimization of the cavity parameters, optical pulse with ~660 fs centered at 1557.5 nm wavelength had been generated. The experimental results demonstrate that the PVA could be an excellent host material for fabricating high-performance TISA, and also indicate that the filmy PVA-TISA is indeed a good candidate for ultrafast saturable absorption device.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xu-Wu
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nian
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ai-Ping
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Zhi-Chao
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Wen-Cheng
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chu-Jun
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shuang-Chun
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wen