title: Ultrafast nonlinear optical properties of thin-solid DNA film and their application as a saturable absorber in femtosecond mode-locked fiber laser.
abstract: A new extraordinary application of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) thin-solid-film was experimentally explored in the field of ultrafast nonlinear photonics. Optical transmission was investigated in both linear and nonlinear regimes for two types of DNA thin-solid-films made from DNA in aqueous solution and DNA-cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) in an organic solvent. Z-scan measurements revealed a high third-order nonlinearity with n2exceeding 10-9at a wavelength of 1570 nm, for a nonlinarity about five orders of magnitude larger than that of silica. We also demonstrated ultrafast saturable absorption (SA) with a modulation depth of 0.43%. DNA thin solid films were successfully deposited on a side-polished optical fiber, providing an efficient evanescent wave interaction. We built an organic-inorganic hybrid all-fiber ring laser using DNA film as an ultrafast SA and using Erbium-doped fiber as an efficient optical gain medium. Stable transform-limited femtosecond soliton pulses were generated with full width half maxima of 417 fs for DNA and 323 fs for DNA-CTMA thin-solid-film SAs. The average output power was 4.20 mW for DNA and 5.46 mW for DNA-CTMA. Detailed conditions for DNA solid film preparation, dispersion control in the laser cavity and subsequent characteristics of soliton pulses are discussed, to confirm unique nonlinear optical applications of DNA thin-solid-film.
authors.affiliation: Photonic Device Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics and Applied Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, South Korea.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khazaeinezhad
authors.affiliation: Photonic Device Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics and Applied Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, South Korea.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Sahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosseinzadeh Kassani
authors.affiliation: Photonic Device Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics and Applied Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Bjorn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paulson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics &Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hwanseong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics &Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jiyoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gwak
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics &Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, South Korea.|Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, South Korea.
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rotermund
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics &Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dong-Il
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Yeom
authors.affiliation: Photonic Device Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics and Applied Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyunghwan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000077286:Cetrimonium; D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004871:Erbium / Q000737:chemistry; D007834:Lasers; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012031:Refractometry; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds; D004871:Erbium; D004247:DNA; D000077286:Cetrimonium