Pulsed Laser Performance of Erbium Doped Fiber Laser Using Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles as Saturable Absorber

In this work, titanium dioxide TiO₂ nanoparticles embedded in thin composite film was used as saturable absorber (SA) in erbium doped fiber (EDF) laser. The thin film was prepared by mixing TiO₂ nanoparticles with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as host. Upon inserting the SA in a laser cavity, the output spectrum shifts to 1533.4 nm from 1563.8 nm. The laser performance was evaluated in the pump power range of 76 mW – 131 mW. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses was 989.0 kHz with a pulse width of 1.26 ps measured. The slope efficiency of the system is 8.58%. Maximum average power and peak power generated from the laser is 11.69 mW and 9.41 kW, respectively. This work explored the potential of TiO₂-PVA thin film as saturable absorber for 1.5 μm laser system. (paper)