Grant: Engage Grants Program

Compact pulsed laser sources operating at an ""eye-safe"" wavelength near 2?micron have many industrial applications, such as, atmospheric sensing, coherent lidar, and mid-IR wavelength generation. ITF Labs is one of the global leading companies that manufacture high-power continuous-wave Tm-doped fiber lasers at 2 micron wavelength range. Recent development on Q-switched Tm-doped fibers is mainly focused on active Q-switching method; however, active Q-switched laser systems suffer from the complicate bulk structure and high cost in contrast to passive Q-switching using saturable absorbers. The current state-of-the-art saturable absorbers are bulk crystals or semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors; however, they are not compatible with fiber structure, and furthermore they are costly. The objective of the current NSERC Engage project is to develop novel compact cost-effective Q-switched fiber lasers near 2 micron wavelength range. The research team at Wilfrid Laurier University will work closely with ITF Labs staff and exploit graphene as a saturable absorber in developing compact Q-switched Tm-doped fiber lasers. Recently graphene has found to be excellent saturable absorber and widely employed in mode-locking fiber lasers. However, there has been no report yet of graphene's application on generating Q-switched pulse near 2 micron. The proposed project will lead to new technology in developing innovative pulsed laser systems with low cost and compact structure. The research outcome of the project is expected to directly improve the competitiveness of ITF Labs in pulsed fiber laser market. This will be greatly beneficial to the company in new product development and strength their R&D's capacities. In long term, the project will also impact the Canadian photonics industry on the global business arena.