Picosecond dissipative soliton generation from an ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on a BP/SnSe 2 -PVA mixture saturable absorber

Stable picosecond dissipative soliton pulses were observed in an ytterbium-doped fiber laser employing a high-quality mixture of BP/SnSe 2 -PVA saturable absorber (SA). The modulation depth, saturation intensity, and non-saturable loss of the mixture of BP/SnSe 2 -PVA SA were measured with values of 5.98%, 18.37 MW/cm 2 , and 33%, respectively. Within the pump power range of 150–270 mW, stable dissipative soliton pulses were obtained with an output power of 1.68–4 mW. When the minimum pulse duration is 1.28 ps, a repetition rate of 0.903 MHz, center wavelength of 1064.38 nm and 3 dB bandwidth of 2 nm were obtained. The maximum pulse energy of 4.43 nJ and the signal-to-noise ratio up to 72 dB were achieved at pump power of 270 mW. The results suggest that the BP/SnSe 2 -PVA mixture SA has outstanding nonlinear saturable absorption characteristics and broad ultrafast laser applications. Graphical Abstract