Broadband Nonlinear Photonics in Zeolite‐Based Selenium Chains

Abstract

As one of the 1D nanomaterials, Se nanochains have been widely used in photoelectric devices, such as photodetectors, battery devices, and optical sensors due to their excellent photoelectric properties. Among them, ultrafast photonics has attracted much attention due to its wide applications; for instance, environmental monitoring, material processing, biomedical imaging, nonlinear optical generation, and free‐space optical communication. Herein, Se nanochains are fabricated by trapping Se species in the circular 1D channel of AlPO4‐5 (AFI) crystal, and the characteristics of Se@AFI are systemically investigated. In addition, the AFI single crystal loaded with Se nanochains in the channel is successfully prepared as a saturable absorber in the fiber laser. The mode‐locking pulse at 1.5 and 1 μm with the repetition rate of 13.16 and 14.74 MHz can be obtained by integrating the Se@AFI composite material in the cavity. The signal‐to‐noise ratios are both over 70 dB, suggesting the high operational stability of the pulses. These results indicate that Se@AFI has good potential as saturable absorber material with a broad wavelength range for ultrafast pulsed fiber lasers. Our results will also provide a new idea for designing air‐stable ultrafast photonic devices and other composite materials in various fields.

Keywords

• broadband saturable absorber
• fiber laser
• selenium molecular
• single crystal