Passive harmonic mode-locking of Er-doped fiber laser using CVD-grown few-layer MoS₂ as a saturable absorber

Passive harmonic mode locking of an erbium-doped fiber laser based on few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) saturable absorber (SA) is demonstrated. The few-layer MoS₂ is prepared by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and then transferred onto the end face of a fiber connector to form a fiber-compatible MoS₂ SA. The 20th harmonic mode-locked pulses at 216-MHz repetition rate are stably generated with a pulse duration of 1.42 ps and side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 36.1 dB. The results confirm that few-layer MoS₂ can serve as an effective SA for mode-locked fiber lasers.