Mode-Locked Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using Vanadium Oxide as Saturable Absorber

A mode-locked erbium doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using the vanadium oxide (V_2O_5) material as a saturable absorber (SA). The V_2O_5 based SA is hosted into poly ethylene oxide film and attached on fiber ferule in the laser cavity. It shows 7% modulation depth with 71 MW/cm^2 saturation intensity. By incorporating the SA inside the EDFL cavity with managed intra-cavity dispersion, ultrashort soliton pulses are successfully generated with a full width at half maximum of 3.14 ps. The laser operated at central wavelength of 1559.25 nm and repetition frequency of 1 MHz.