articleApplied Physics LettersNov 19, 2012Closed access

Ultra-short pulse generation by a topological insulator based saturable absorber

Hunan University · Xiangtan University · +1 more institution

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Abstract

Under strong laser radiation, a Dirac material, the topological insulator (TI) Bi2Te3, exhibits an optical transmittance increase as a result of saturable absorption. Based on an open-aperture Z-scan measurement at 1550 nm, we clearly show that the TI, Bi2Te3 under our investigation, is indeed a very-high-modulation-depth (up to 95%) saturable absorber. Furthermore, a TI based saturable absorber device was fabricated and used as a passive mode locker for ultrafast pulse formation at the telecommunication band. This contribution unambiguously shows that apart from its fantastic electronic property, a TI (Bi2Te3) may also possess attractive optoelectronic property for ultrafast photonics.

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616
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Authors

7

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Saturable absorption
  • Topological insulator
  • Pulse (music)
  • Optoelectronics
  • Insulator (electricity)
  • Materials science
  • Physics
  • Optics
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