Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with silicon oxycarbide saturable absorber

We have experimentally demonstrated a Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser (EDFL) by using silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) as saturable absorber (SA). The SiOC was prepared by reactive RF magnetron sputtering before being mechanically exfoliated and inserted in cavity to generate Q-switched pulses operating at 1561.7 nm. Pulses as short as 2.1 μs were generated at the repetition rate of 96.7 kHz, having signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 70 dB. The Q-switched EDFL pulses remained stable between pump powers of 111.5−198 mW. At the pump power value of 198 mW, the Q-switched EDFL generated pulses with output power of 2.4 mW and high pulse energy of about 25 nJ. For the first time SiOC is introduced to be used as a SA in the EDFL cavity for Q-switched laser sources.