In passively mode-locked fiber lasers, saturable absorbers function as passive modulators and are essential for producing ultrashort pulses. Germanene is a saturable absorber material with an extremely quick response. It is a two-dimensional material that resembles graphene and has a fast carrier relaxation time and a strong nonlinear absorption coefficient.
Researchers led by Prof. Wei Xia at University of Jinan (UJN), are interested in modulation switches in fiber lasers, and two-dimensional material saturable absorbers have been a hot research topic in recent years.
Two-dimensional materials compensate for the drawbacks of conventional artificial saturable absorbers, such as nonlinear polarization rotation and nonlinear amplification loop mirror with low environmental stability and complex structure.
The development of passive modulators has benefited by extensively examining the potential performance of germanene, a newly discovered two-dimensional material with excellent nonlinear optical properties.
The researchers predict its potential applications. The femtosecond pulse and greater energy noise-like pulse can be produced using it as a saturable absorber.
