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Filled Skutterudites for Broadband Saturable Absorbers
Author(s) -
Lee Junsu,
Yu ByungKyu,
Jhon Young In,
Koo Joonhoi,
Kim Sung Jin,
Jhon Young Min,
Lee Ju Han
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced optical materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 91
ISSN - 2195-1071
DOI - 10.1002/adom.201700096
Subject(s) - materials science , saturable absorption , skutterudite , broadband , absorption (acoustics) , band gap , optoelectronics , ion , doping , thermoelectric materials , optics , composite material , wavelength , thermal conductivity , physics , quantum mechanics , fiber laser
Filled skutterudites (FSs), which are known to be good thermoelectric materials, have been intensively investigated in the field of condensed matter physics in the past decades, due to their large variety of electronic and magnetic properties. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there has been no previous investigation of the optical properties of FSs. The nonlinear optical saturable absorption property of FSs is investigated in this work for the first time, and the results are reported here. More specifically, Co 4 Sb 12 is chosen as a binary skutterudite system, and indium ions are added as a filling element to form a FS of In 0.2 Co 4 Sb 12 . The material properties are systematically investigated using a series of measurements. Density functional theory calculations of the electronic band structures of InCo 4 Sb 12 and In 0.25 Co 4 Sb 12 are conducted for better understanding of their energy band structures. It is also demonstrated that a broadband saturable absorber (SA) that can simultaneously operate at 1.5 and 1.9 µm can readily be implemented by depositing particles of In 0.2 Co 4 Sb 12 onto fiber ferrules. The efficacy of the prepared SA is tested by incorporating the device into rare earth ion‐doped fiber ring cavities, to show its capability for both 1.5 and 1.9 µm operation.