Germanene saturable absorber for mode-locked operation in an all-fiber laser with multiple dispersion environments.

In this paper, a high-quality germanene-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) saturable absorber (SA) with a modulation depth of 3.05% and a saturation intensity of 17.95M W/c m 2 was prepared. Stable conventional mode-locking and harmonic mode-locking (HML) were achieved in germanene-based Er-doped fiber lasers (EDFL) using dispersion management techniques. In a cavity with a net dispersion value of -0.22p s 2, the conventional soliton had a center wavelength of 1558.2 nm, a repetition frequency of 19.09 MHz, and a maximum 3 dB spectrum bandwidth of 3.5 nm. The highest repetition frequencies achieved in cavities with net dispersion values of -2.81p s 2, -1.73p s 2, and -1.09p s 2 were 9.48 MHz, 12.75 MHz, and 12.10 MHz for HML, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of dispersion, power, and the polarization state on HML were systematically investigated. Our research results fully demonstrate the capability of germanene as an optical modulator in generating conventional mode-locked and harmonic mode-locked solitons. This provides meaningful references for promoting its application in ultrafast fiber lasers.

Evolution between bright and dark pulses in a MoxW1-xTe2 based fiber laser.

We proposed an erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked with a MoxW1-xTe2-based nonlinear optical modulator for the first time to our best knowledge. This fiber laser can deliver bright pulses, bright-dark pulse pairs, dark pulses, bright-dark-bright pulses, and dark-dark-bright pulses. The modulation depth and saturation intensity of the MoxW1-xTe2-based saturable absorber were about 7.8% and 8.6 MW/cm2, respectively. When 10% of the laser in the cavity was output, conventional soliton pulses with central wavelength of 1560.1 nm can be obtained in the cavity. When 70% of the laser was output, dual-wavelength domain-wall dark pulses appeared in the laser cavity. This experiment revealed that an appropriate increase in the ratio of output energy can improve the chance of dark pulses in fiber lasers. The mode-locking states in this fiber laser can evolve with each other between bright pulses, bright-dark pulse pairs and dark pulses by adjusting the polarization controller. The results indicated that the MoxW1-xTe2 can be used to make modulators for generating dark pulses. Furthermore, our work will be of great help to improve the chance of the generation of dark pulse in fiber lasers.

High-Energy Mode-Locked Pulse Er-Doped Fiber Laser-Based GeTe as Saturable Absorber.

High-energy Er-doped fiber laser with high conversion efficiency is reported, which is mode-locked by a germanium telluride (GeTe)-based saturable absorber (SA). By adjusting the direction of the polarization controller (PC), a high-energy pulse with a central wavelength of 1533.1 nm and a fundamental repetition frequency of 1.58 MHz is achieved. Under the pump power of 450.1 mW, the maximum average output power is 50.48 mW, and the single-pulse energy is 32 nJ. It is worth noting that the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency has reached about 11.2%. The experimental results indicate that GeTe performs excellently as SAs for obtaining mode-locked fiber lasers and plays an extremely important role in high-energy fiber lasers.

Dual-shearing interferometer for multi-modal hyperspectral imaging.

A dual-shearing interferometer (DSI) for multimodal hyperspectral imaging is presented. Two orthogonally stacked pairs of coherent beams are generated by a pair of novel, to the best of our knowledge, birefringent lateral shearing splitters. Consequently, two sets of interferograms with full pixel resolution are captured alternately in a time sequence in the double Nyquist frequency mode. Modals of dual-field-of-view hyperspectral imaging and differential-polarization hyperspectral imaging are introduced, and verification experiments are performed. The feasibility of other modals is discussed. The proposed method can effectively improve the instrument's performance in terms of the field of view, polarization, spectral resolution, and spectral range.

Generation of bright-dark solitons in an Er-doped fiber laser employing InSb as a saturable absorber.

In this paper, an indium antimonide (InSb) saturable absorber (SA) was successfully fabricated. The saturable absorption properties of the InSb SA were studied, and they show a modulation depth and a saturable intensity of 5.17% and 9.23M W/c m 2, respectively. By employing the InSb SA and building the ring cavity laser structure, the bright-dark soliton operations were successfully obtained by increasing the pump power to 100.4 mW and adjusting the polarization controller. As the pump power increased from 100.4 to 180.3 mW, the average output power increased from 4.69 to 9.42 mW, the corresponding fundamental repetition rate was 2.85 MHz, and the signal-to-noise ratio was 68 dB. The experimental results show that InSb with excellent saturable absorption characteristics can be used as a SA to obtain pulse lasers. Therefore, InSb has important potential in fiber laser generation, further applications in optoelectronics, laser distance ranging, and optical fiber communication, and it can be widely developed.

Nanosized indium selenide saturable absorber for multiple solitons operation in Er3+-doped fiber laser.

With the advances in the field of ultrafast photonics occurring so fast, the demand for optical modulation devices with high performance and soliton lasers which can realize the evolution of multiple soliton pulses is gradually increasing. Nevertheless, saturable absorbers (SAs) with appropriate parameters and pulsed fiber lasers which can output abundant mode-locking states still need to be further explored. Due to the special band gap energy values of few-layer indium selenide (InSe) nanosheets, we have prepared a SA based on InSe on a microfiber by optical deposition. In addition, we demonstrate that our prepared SA possesses a modulation depth and saturable absorption intensity about 6.87% and 15.83 MW/cm2, respectively. Then, multiple soliton states are obtained by dispersion management techniques, including regular solitons, and second-order harmonic mode-locking solitons. Meanwhile, we have obtained multi-pulse bound state solitons. We also provide theoretical basis for the existence of these solitons. The results of the experiment show that the InSe has the potential to be an excellent optical modulator because of its excellent saturable absorption properties. This work also is important for improving the understanding and knowledge of InSe and the output performance of fiber lasers.

Passively mode-locked fiber laser based on GeTe as a saturable absorber.

In this work, we fabricate a saturable absorber based on GeTe with saturation intensity and modulation depth of 12.6M W/c m 2 and 7%, respectively. We obtain stable conventional soliton and stretched soliton mode-locking operation. For the conventional soliton state, the average output power increased from 0.93 to 8.70 mW with the increase of pump power, and the fundamental repetition rate was 7.8351 MHz. Its central wavelength and 3 dB bandwidth were 1564.72 and 4.78 nm, respectively. For the stretched soliton state, when the pump power was increased from 87.4 to 420.3 mW, the average output power increased from 2.05 to 10.46 mW. When the maximum average output power reached 10.46 mW, the maximum average single-pulse energy was 0.86 nJ. The experimental results show that GeTe nanosheets will have broad application potential in the field of ultrafast photonics.

Static full-Stokes Fourier transform imaging spectropolarimeter capturing spectral, polarization, and spatial characteristics.

A static full-Stokes Fourier transform imaging spectropolarimeter incorporating a liquid-crystal polarization modulator (LPM) and birefringent shearing interferometer (BSI) is reported. It can decode the polarization information at each wavelength along the spatial dimension of a two-dimensional data array. The LPM has a high-speed time-division architecture and employs two ferroelectric liquid crystals and two wave plates to produce four polarization states, providing full-Stokes polarimetric information with a high signal-to-noise ratio. The BSI comprises two birefringent crystal plates and generates an optical path difference with good linear distribution for broadband interference, allowing a fast and high-precision spectral recovery. The optimized design of LPM and BSI are introduced in detail. Subsequently, the signal reconstruction is verified through simulations and experiments. The proposed scheme is highly efficient, exhibits a higher spectral resolution, and constitutes a compact technical approach to realize high-dimensional optical measurement.

5D-fusion sensing via interference illumination and polarization imaging.

This study proposes a polychromatic interferometric illumination and polarimetric sensor-based imaging method for spectrum, polarization, and 3D shape, which are significant physical parameters of feature analysis for target detection. 5D-fusion sensing refers to the joint detection and fusion of the above 5D information, which is currently a great challenge. The method generates a polychromatic interference pattern using a Sagnac lateral shearing interferometer and projects it to the target. Then, interferograms modulated by the target are acquired during scanning. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) is performed on the interferograms to obtain their frequency spectra. The spectral and polarization information is extracted from the moduli of the frequency spectra. The 3D shape is recovered from the phase of the frequency spectra using the calibration data. The theory of 5D-fusion sensing is investigated, and verification experiments are then performed. The experiments indicate that the proposed method can fulfill 5D-fusion sensing in one scanning and with FFT using only one device compared with other separate methods. Consequently, the proposed method can improve the sensing and recognition ability of optical imaging technology, which provides great application potential in biomedicine, food safety, material analysis, criminal investigation, archeology, and other fields.

Iterative local Fourier transform-based high-accuracy wavelength calibration for Fourier transform imaging spectrometer.

An iterative local Fourier transform (ILFT)-based high-accuracy wavelength calibration for Fourier transform imaging spectrometer (FTIS) is proposed. The wavelength calibration for FTIS is to determine the relation between the wavelength and the wavenumber position. However, the wavenumber position solved by conventional method is only accurate up to integers restricted by the picket-fence effect of discrete Fourier transform. While the proposed ILFT can increase the accuracy of calculating the wavenumber position by combining the local Fourier transform and a few iterations. In this paper, the method is investigated in theory and then by simulations and experiments. The simulations show that the accuracy of the wavenumber position calculated by the ILFT is increased by 100 times than conventional method with noise, phase error, and non-uniform sampling of optical path difference. And the experimental results indicate that the ILFT decreases the absolute error of wavelength calibration from about 2.03 nm to 0.16 nm. Therefore, the method provides theoretical and technical support for FTIS and promotes the development of superior resolutions therein.

Ultra-compact Fourier transform imaging spectrometer using a focal plane birefringent interferometer.

A new Fourier transform imaging spectrometer based on a focal plane birefringent interferometer (FPBI) is presented. The FPBI, located in front of the detector, is capable of performing spectral imaging measurements. It mainly consists of a birefringent plate and a birefringent wedge. The ordinary and extraordinary rays-with an optical path difference-are split by the FPBI and interfere on the focal plane. The spectral image of the target can be acquired via scene scanning and spectral recovery. The principle of interferometric imaging of the FPBI is investigated, and verification experiments are then performed. The experiments indicate that the FPBI not only provides effective spectral imaging measurements, but also presents the advantages of being ultra-compact and lightweight. As a result, it can be effectively applied in situations such as outdoor surveillance and airborne remote sensing.

Compact birefringent interferometer for Fourier transform hyperspectral imaging.

A compact birefringent interferometer (CBI) for Fourier transform hyperspectral imaging is presented. The CBI employs only two birefringent crystal plates: a shearing plate (SP) and a compensation plate (CP). The SP generates the optical path difference (OPD) associated with the field of view for broadband interference. The CP compensates the constant term and square term OPDs of the SP to adjust the position of the zero-order fringe pattern and suppress inconsistent total OPDs and other nonlinear OPDs. This paper details the theoretically deduced OPDs and then presents simulation analyses and verification experiments conducted to investigate the OPD distribution characteristics. To verify the CBI performance, experimental spectral measurements and hyperspectral imaging were performed. The experimental results demonstrate that the CBI can suppress inconsistent total OPDs and other nonlinear OPDs with only two birefringent crystal plates, and therefore offers much promise for miniature and high-precision Fourier transform hyperspectral imaging.

Fourier transform imaging spectropolarimeter using ferroelectric liquid crystals and Wollaston interferometer.

A time-division Fourier transform imaging spectropolarimeter (FTISP) for acquiring spatial, spectral, and polarized information is presented. The FTISP employs two ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) and a Wollaston interferometer. The fast axes of the FLCs are controlled to switch quickly without mechanical movement, enabling the polarization state analyzer (PSA) to modulate the full set of Stokes parameters rapidly. The interferometer combines a Wollaston prism with a retroreflector, enabling high interference modulation and facilitating optical alignment. The optimal design for the FLC-PSA and Wollaston interferometer, and the Fourier transform recovery for the polarized interferogram, are presented in detail. To verify the proposed FTISP, laboratory and outdoor experiments were conducted, and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed FTISP offers much promise for spectropolarimetric measurement with the advantages of fast speed, high spectral resolution, and high signal-to-noise ratio.

Optical path squeezing interferometry: boosting the resolution for Fourier transform imaging spectrometers.

We present an optical path squeezing interferometer dedicated to high-spectral-resolution Fourier transform imaging spectrometry. By incorporating a pair of gratings into a Sagnac interferometer, the short-wavelength light has a larger optical path difference (OPD) than the long-wavelength light. Interference fringes with different OPDs are squeezed into the same sampling window in data acquisition. As a result, the spectral resolution is greatly enhanced without large OPD scanning. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is a promising technology for high-resolution spectral imaging.

Birefringent Fourier transform imaging spectrometer with a rotating retroreflector.

A birefringent Fourier transform imaging spectrometer with a new lateral shearing interferometer is presented. The interferometer includes a Wollaston prism and a retroreflector. It splits an incident light beam into two shearing parallel parts to obtain interference fringe patterns of an imaging target, which is well established as an aid in reducing problems associated with optical alignment and manufacturing precision. Continuously rotating the retroreflector enables the spectrometer to acquire two-dimensional spectral images without spatial scanning. This technology, with a high work efficiency and low complexity, is inherently compact and robust. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by the experimental results.