Black phosphorus (BP), an emerging narrow direct band-gap two-dimensional (2D) layered material that can fill the gap between the semi-metallic graphene and the wide-bandgap transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), had been experimentally found to exhibit the saturation of optical absorption if under strong light illumination. By taking advantage of this saturable absorption property, we could fabricate a new type of optical saturable absorber (SA) based on mechanically exfoliated BPs, and further demonstrate the applications for ultra-fast laser photonics. Based on the balanced synchronous twin-detector measurement method, we have characterized the saturable absorption property of the fabricated BP-SAs at the telecommunication band. By incorporating the BP-based SAs device into the all-fiber Erbium-doped fiber laser cavities, we are able to obtain either the passive Q-switching (with maximum pulse energy of 94.3 nJ) or the passive mode-locking operation (with pulse duration down to 946 fs). Our results show that BP could also be developed as an effective SA for pulsed fiber or solid-state lasers.

The band gaps of many atomically thin 2D layered materials such as graphene, black phosphorus, monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides and hBN range from 0 to 6 eV. These isolated atomic planes can be reassembled into hybrid heterostructures made layer by layer in a precisely chosen sequence. Thus, the electronic properties of 2D materials can be engineered by van der Waals stacking, and the interlayer coupling can be tuned, which opens up avenues for creating new material systems with rich functionalities and novel physical properties. Early studies suggest that van der Waals stacked 2D materials work exceptionally well, dramatically enriching the optoelectronics applications of 2D materials. Here we review recent progress in van der Waals stacked 2D materials, and discuss their potential applications in optoelectronics.

Due to their relatively high compatibility with specific photonic structures, strong light-matter interactions and unique nonlinear optical response, two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, are attractive for ultrafast photonics applications. Here, we fabricate MoS₂/graphene nanocomposites by a typical hydrothermal method. In addition, we systematically investigate their nonlinear optical responses. Our experiments indicate that the combined advantages of ultrafast relaxation, a broadband response from graphene and the strong light-matter interaction from MoS₂, can be integrated together by composition. The optical properties in terms of carrier relaxation dynamics, saturation intensity and modulation depth suggest great potential for the MoS₂/graphene nanocomposites in photonics applications. We have further fabricated 2D nanocomposites based optical saturable absorbers and integrated them into a 1.5 μm Erbium-doped fiber laser to demonstrate Q-switched and mode-locked pulse generation. The fabrication of 2D nanocomposites assembled from different types of 2D materials, via this simple and scalable growth approach, paves the way for the formation and tuning of new 2D materials with desirable photonic properties and applications.

We demonstrate a switchable dual-wavelength synchronously pulsed fiber laser Q-switched by graphene saturable absorber. Wavelength-resolved studies on the output Q-switched pulses show that despite of large wavelength spacing up to 26 nm, the two Q-switched pulses at each individual wavelength can be temporally synchronized with per-pulse energy up to ~ 70 nJ. Further experiments show that by adjusting the intracavity birefringence, dual-wavelength emission can be switched to another dual-wavelength operation regime with wavelength separation of 5.7 nm. Our experimental results are also qualitatively supported by the cavity linear transmission characteristics of the ring cavity.

Fermionic superradiance: Placing an atomic gas inside an optical cavity can have profound effects, for example, inducing long-range atomic interactions through the coupling with the cavity’s photons. Such experiments have been done with bosonic atoms but realizing them with fermions has proven trickier. Zhang et al . placed an ultracold gas of fermionic lithium-6 atoms in a cavity pumped by a laser beam orthogonal to the cavity axis. For sufficiently strong pumping, the researchers detected a checkerboard pattern in the atoms’ momentum space corresponding to a superradiant phase transition in the cavity. The Pauli exclusion principle, which applies to fermions but not bosons, slowed down the atomic dynamics. —JS