A tunable wavelength Q-switched fiber laser at C-band region by using CuPc as a saturable absorber
摘要
We utilized a Copper Phthalocyanines (CuPc) thin film as a saturable absorber (SA) to generate Q-switched pulses at 1560.6 nm. This CuPc SA exhibited a modulation depth of approximately 1.5% in nonlinear optical transmission at 1572 nm, alongside a linear absorption of about 3.2 dB across the full gain bandwidth of the erbium-doped fiber. As the input power increased, the pulse width decreased and the repetition rate rose from 9.8 µs and 35 kHz to 4.64 µs and 54 kHz, respectively. We then introduced a tunable band pass filter (TBPF) into the laser cavity. By adjusting the TBPF, we varied the central wavelength across the C-band region, from 1520.2 to 1560.2 nm, while maintaining stable Q-switched operation. The CuPc SA was fabricated affordably and easily, delivering consistent performance with a high signal-to-noise ratio exceeding 61 dB. The ability to achieve tunable and stable Q-switching with an organic SA could lead to significant advancements in fiber laser technology.