Yttrium oxide as a Q-switcher for the near-infrared erbium-doped fiber laser

Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) has been widely used in metal-reinforced composites, microelectronics, waveguide lasers, and high-temperature protective coatings because of its good physical and photoelectric properties. However, few studies have been done on the nonlinear optical applications of Y2O3 as saturable absorbers (SAs) in fiber lasers so far. Here, a passively Q-switched near-infrared fiber laser using Y2O3 as a Q-switching device is demonstrated. The optical nonlinear properties of the Y2O3 SA prepared by the magnetron sputtering method were measured by the twin-detector measurement technique, and the modulation depth of the proposed Y2O3 SA was found to be 46.43%. The achieved Q-switched laser delivers an average output power of 26 mW at 1530 nm with a pulse duration of 592.7 ns. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the optical nonlinearity of Y2O3 as a Q-switcher for the near-infrared fiber laser, which may deepen the understanding of the optical nonlinear properties of Y2O3 and make inroads into the potential market of optical modulation and optoelectronic devices.