Research Project Presentation :

GENERATION OF Q-SWITCHING PULSE TRAIN

WITH TOPOLOGY INSULATORS
KQH 7001

Name : Nur Farhanah binti Zulkipli

Matrix No. : KQH 160006

Programme : Master of Engineering (Telecommunications)

Field of Research : Photonic (Electronic & Automation)

Supervisor : Professor Dr. Sulaiman Wadi Harun

 Overview
1 Introduction

2 Objectives

3 Literature Reviews

4 Experimental Setup

5 Experimental Step

6 Results

7 Conclusion

8 References
 1 Introduction
Rare-earth doped fiber
Benefits of fiber
lasers laser
Was introduced early 1960s
High stability

High power
An optical fiber through which ions of a rare-earth
element that produced a few milli watts at a
High reliability that average life span almost to
wavelength of around 1 m.
100,000 hours
The elements included in the core glass matrix,
Very efficient
resulting in high absorption with low loss in the visible
and near-infrared spectral regions
More compact due to fibers can be easily bent and
There are a few examples of rare-earth ions that coiled as compared to gas and solid state lasers
usually used in fiber-doped gain medium such as Applications of fiber
Erbium, Neodymium, Homium, Ytterbium and etc. laser
Industrial material processing

Telecommunication

Medicine

Military
 1 Introduction
Two types of TIs were explored in this study;
Bismuth (III) Selenide (Bi2Se3)

Bismuth (III) Telluride (Bi2Te3)

TI was discovered to possess a large bandgap and single Dirac cone that is
similar to graphene SA
Bismuth or Bi is in the nitrogen group which is in group 15 in periodic table.
The characteristic of bismuth as stated below:
Hard
Brittle (fragile)
Lustrous (shining)
 2 Objectives

1. To demonstrate a Q-switched EDFL using Bi2Se3 based SA.

2. To demonstrate a Q-switched EDFL using Bi2Te3 based SA.

 3 Literature Reviews
Doped fiber laser Example : Erbium (Er3+)

Most popular component in the fiber laser Er3+ famous rare-earth doped fiber material
oscillator, act as GAIN MEDIUM
Provide gain medium
Integrated in the fiber laser oscillator to generate a
broad spectrum with a relatively high gain. Operated in 1500 nm region

Benefits of EDFL

Simplest way of doping

Low loss

Compact

High reliability

High output power

Cost effective
 3 Literature Reviews
Generating pulsed lasers

Q - switching Mode locking

To generate high pulse energy at

relatively low repetition rate (kHz) To generate high pulse energy at
high repetition rate (MHz)
Longer pulse width
Narrow pulse width
Passive technique

Flexibility, compactness & simplicity Passive technique

Rapid increase in cavity
Active technique gain
Used an external element, such as
acousto-optic or electro-optic modulator
Active technique
Complex circuit to control
High peak power output
Cost increase pulse of short duration
 3 Literature Reviews
Saturable Absorber
Real SAs An optical component Artificial SAs
with certain optical loss Devices that exploit
Materials that exhibit an to reduce at high optical nonlinear effects to
intrinsic nonlinear decrease in intensities duplicate the action of real
To generate the short
absorption with the increasing SA by inducing an intensity-
optical pulses
light intensity For nonlinear filtering dependent transmission
outside laser resonators,
e.g. : cleaning up pulse
shapes & in optical signal
processing
Bismuth (III)
Selenide (II)
(Bi2Se3)
Concentrate on real
SAs because it has
many advantages : TOPOLOGY
Broadband INSULATORS (TI)
operation MATERIALS
Switching speed
Engineerable Bismuth (III)
properties Telluride (II)
(Bi2Te3)
 4 Experimental Setup
Laser Diode (LD) Pump :
Pumping wavelength
depends on the gain
medium absorption
spectral. (980 nm).
Output Power :
Optical power meter (OPM)
via Thermo coupler.
Output Spectrum :
Optical spectrum analyzer
(OSA).
Temporal Performances :
Digital oscilloscope (DOSC)
and radio frequency spectrum
analyzer (RFSA) via high
speed photodetector (PD).
Wavelength Division Rare-earth doped fiber
Multiplexer (WDM) : (Erbium) :
Couple pump power and 2.4 meter long of EDF and
feedback lasing into provide gain medium.
cavity.
Isolator :
To ensure single-direction
operation and suppress
Brillouin backscattering
which responsible for the
self-pulsing instability.
Saturable Absorber
(SA):
Coupler : A piece of 1 mm x 1 mm
Output collector film or flakes or coated
with ratio end facet fiber ferule.
(80:20).
 5 Experimental Step
Before starting the experiment, make sure the surface of the cross section at
each fiber ferrule is clean and unburn by using fiber inspection probe to see if
STEP 1
there any burnt and dirty on the fiber ferrule.

The laser diode is ON and current (mA) is pumped into the experiment
STEP 2 setup by using 980 nm laser diode
Then the signal produced which the continuous wave (CW) is captured and
recorded by using OSA
The spectrum of the signal is adjusted by vary the SWEEP and SPAN on
the instrument to get better view of the signal

Then the laser diode is OFF to locate the thin film of Bi2Se3 or Bi2Te3
between two fiber ferrules
STEP 3 The saturable absorber is placed on the fiber ferrule by using the index
matching gel
 5 Experimental Step
The laser diode is ON and the current is pumped into the experiment circuit gradually
until the signal (stable sine wave) shown where the Q-switched is occurred on the digital
STEP 4 oscilloscope
High Peak
No Peak Power Power

The data need to be captured and recorded as follows :

Power reading on the optical power meter (OPM)
STEP 5 The signal displayed, the pulse repetition rate (kHz) and the pulse width (m) on
the digital oscilloscope (DOSC) through the photodetector is changes from the
optical signal to electrical signal [captured and recorded in pendrive with the csv
and bmp format]
The output power spectrum on the optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) [captured and
recorded in pendrive with the csv format]
The output of the radio frequency spectrum analyzer through photodetector is
changes from the optical signal to electrical signal [captured and recorded in
memory card (GPIB card) with the csv format]
 6 Result TI Bi2Se3
At pump power of
116.6 mW
Center wavelength =
1559.5 nm

Bismuth (III)
Selenide (II) Optical spectrum analyzer (OSA)
(Bi2Se3)

At pump power of
116.6mW
Signal noise to ratio
(SNR) approximately 60
dB

Radio Frequency spectrum analyzer

(RFSA)
 6 Result TI Bi2Se3
Output power increases
from 2.52mW to 3.21
mW
Pulse energy increases
from 29.7 nJ to36.9 nJ
Slope efficiency =
2.24%

Optical power meter

(OPM)
60 16
Pump power is boosted
55 14
from the threshold power of
12
Repetton Rate (kHz) 50 86.1mW to 116.6 mW

Pulsewidth (s)
10
45 Repetition rate increases
8 from 84.77 kHz to 87.03
40
6 kHz
35 Repetitio
n Rate
4 Pulse width decreases from
30 2 5.42 s to 5.11s
25 0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Pump Power (mW)
By shortening the length of
the laser cavity, the pulse
Digital Oscilloscope width will be decreased
Repetition rate & Pulse Width
(DOSC)
 6 Result TI Bi2Te3

At pump power of
106.4mW
Center wavelength =
1558.5 nm

Bi2Te3 Optcal spectrum analyzer (OSA)

At pump power of
106.4mW
Signal-to-noise ratio
MORE than 65 dB

Radio Frequency spectrum analyzer

(RFSA)
 6 Result TI Bi2Te3
Output power increases
from 2.02 mW to 9.89 mW
Pulse energy increases from
52.11 nJ to 126 nJ
Slope efficiency = 9.35 %

Optical power meter (OPM)

Pump power is boosted

from the threshold power of
25.0 mW to 106.4mW
Repetition rate increases
from 38.76 kHz to 77.88
kHz
Pulse width decreases from
12.96s to 6.56s

By shortening the length of

Digital Oscilloscope the laser cavity, the pulse
(DOSC) Repetition rate & Pulse Width width will be decreased
 6 Bi2Se3 Vs Bi2Te3
Bi2Se3 Parameter Bi2Te3

86.1mW to 116.6 mW Pump Power (mW) 25.0 mW to 106.4mW

2.52mW to 3.21 mW Output Power (mW) 2.02 mW to 9.89 mW

84.77 kHz to 87.03 kHz Rr (kHz) 38.76 kHz to 77.88 kHz

5.42 to 5.11s Pulse Width (s) 12.96s to 6.56s

29.7 nJ to36.9 nJ Pulse Energy (nJ) 52.11 nJ to 126 nJ

For Bi2Se3
7
Conclusion
Generate stable pulse train by changing the pump power from 86.1 mW to 116.6 mW with repetition rate
that can be tuned from 84.08 to 87.03 kHz. The output power increases from 2.52 to 3.21 mW as the pump
power increased from 86.1 mW to 116.6 mW. Maximum pulse energy of 36.9 nJ obtained at max pump
power. Lowest pulsewidth 5.11 s was also obtained at pump power of 116.6 mW.

For Bi2Te3

Pump power increased from 25.0 to 106.4 mW. The Q-switching operating has the shortest pulse width of
6.56 s, and the maximum pulse energy up to 126 nJ.

In a nut shell, found that Bi2Te3 film performed better than Bi2Se3 in terms of pulse energy and wider

tuning range for repetition rate and pulse width.

Both TI films possess the potential advantage for stable Q-switched pulse generation at 1.5 m.
 7
Conclusion
TIs has low saturation intensity and broad effective bandwidth compared to graphene

(GO)

Q-Switched fiber lasers are generally used for generating high-energy pulses at

relatively low repetition rates.

Q-Switching have some advantages in terms of costs, efficient operation and easy to

implement.
 7 Conclusion

FUTURE
IMPROVEMENTS

Further studies should be

The cavity length can be
further optimized to obtain
a better repetition rate and
pulse width.
focusing on exploring more on
the optical properties of both
BISMUTH, Bi2Se3
Bi2Te3 for ultrafast laser
generation.
 8 References
Abanin, D. A., et al. (2012). Ordering of magnetic impurities and tunable electronic
properties of topological insulators. Phys. Rev. Lett, 106(13), 136802.

Ahmed, M., et al. (2014). All fiber mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser using single-
walled carbon nanotubes embedded into polyvinyl alcohol film as saturable absorber. Optic
& Laser Technology, 62(40-43).

Ahmed., e. a. (2015). Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser based on single and multiple
walled carbon nanotubes embedded in polyethylene oxide film as saturable absorber. Optics
& Laser Technology, 65, 25-28.

Al-Masoodi., e. a. (2015). Q-Switched Yb-Doped Fiber Ring Laser with a Saturable

Absorber Based on a Graphene Polyvinyl Alcohol Film. Journal of Russian Laser Research,
36(4), 389-394.

Bellemare, A., et al. (2001). Mechanically Exfoliated black phosphorus as ew saturabe

absorber for both Q-switching and Mode-Locking laser operation. Optic Express, 23(10),
12823-12833.

Bracket, C. A. (1990). Dense Wavelength division multiplexong networks: Principles and

applications. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 8(6), 948-964.

Chen, Y., e. a. (2013). Self-assembled topological insulator: Bi Se membrane as a passive Q-

switcher in an erbium-doped fiber laser. J. Lightwave Technol, 31, 2857-2863.

Chen, Y., e. a. (2014). Large energy, wavelength widely tunable, topological insulator Q-
switched erbium-doped fiber laser. IEEE J.Sel. Top. Quantum Electron, 20, 315322.
 8 References
Choudhary, A., et al. (2015). Graphene Q-switched mode-locked and Q-switched ion-exchanged
waveguide lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 27(6), 646-649.

Degnan. J.J ., e. a. (1995). Optimization of passively Q-switched lasers. iEEE J. Quantum Electron,
31(11), 1890-1901.

Desurvire, E., et al. (1987). High-gain erbium-doped travelling-wave fiber amplifier. Optic Letters,
12(11), 888-890.

Fermann., e. a. (2013). Ultrafast fibre lasers. Nature Photonics, 7(11), 868874.

doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.280.

Galecki, L., et al. (2010). Mid-infrared Q-switched Er: YAG laser for medical applications. Laser Phys.
Lett, 7(7), 498.

Giles, C. R. E. D. (1991). Modelling erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Journal of Lightwave Technology,

9(271-283).

Goodno, H. I. G. D. ( 2011). High Power Laser Handbook. New York, NY, USA
: McGraw-Hill.

Haris, H., et al. (2014). Passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser at L-band region by
employing multi-walled carbon nanotubes as saturable absorber. J. Optoelectron. Adv. Mater, 8, 1025-
1028.

Haris, H., et al. (2016). Graphene Oxide-Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) Film as saturable
absorber on mode-locked erbium doped fiber laser generation. Jurnal Teknologi, 78(3).
Q & A Session