Passively mode-locked fiber laser by a cell-type WS2 nanosheets saturable absorber

A cell-type saturable absorber has been demonstrated by filling the single mode photonic crystal fiber (SMPCF) with tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets. The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and non-saturable loss of this SA are measured to be 3.53%, 159 MW/cm(2) and 23.2%, respectively. Based on this SA, a passively mode-locked EDF laser has been achieved with pulse duration of 808 fs and repetition rate of 19.57 MHz, and signal-noise-ratio (SNR) of 60.5 dB. Our results demonstrate that the cell-type WS2 nanosheets SA can serve as a good candidate for short-pulse mode locker.