Abstract
A new extraordinary application of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) thin-solid-film was experimentally explored in the field of ultrafast nonlinear photonics. Optical transmission was investigated in both linear and nonlinear regimes for two types of DNA thin-solid-films made from DNA in aqueous solution and DNA-cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) in an organic solvent. Z-scan measurements revealed a high third-order nonlinearity with n2 exceeding 10−9 at a wavelength of 1570 nm, for a nonlinarity about five orders of magnitude larger than that of silica. We also demonstrated ultrafast saturable absorption (SA) with a modulation depth of 0.43%. DNA thin solid films were successfully deposited on a side-polished optical fiber, providing an efficient evanescent wave interaction. We built an organic-inorganic hybrid all-fiber ring laser using DNA film as an ultrafast SA and using Erbium-doped fiber as an efficient optical gain medium. Stable transform-limited femtosecond soliton pulses were generated with full width half maxima of 417 fs for DNA and 323 fs for DNA-CTMA thin-solid-film SAs. The average output power was 4.20 mW for DNA and 5.46 mW for DNA-CTMA. Detailed conditions for DNA solid film preparation, dispersion control in the laser cavity and subsequent characteristics of soliton pulses are discussed, to confirm unique nonlinear optical applications of DNA thin-solid-film.
Highlights
Have mainly been attributed to the dopants rather than to the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) host
We focused on two types of DNA thin solid films made from: 1) DNA dissolved in water and 2) DNA-cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) in an organic solvent, without any optically functional additives, in order to quantify the optical nonlinearity of DNA solid thin film itself, for the first time
This absorption tail might be analogous to the Urbach tail observed in amorphous materials[72], it may be due to scattering losses observed at higher frequencies in DNA
Summary
Have mainly been attributed to the dopants rather than to the DNA host. far systematic analyses on the nonlinear optical response of DNA solid film itself as a photonics material have not yet been reported; neither has the realization of a DNA-based nonlinear optical device in an ultrafast laser system been attempted. Black phosphorous has recently attracted attention as a natural candidate for broadband optical applications such as ultra-fast photonics devices, and it can be considered as a biocompatible material, as it can degrade in human blood due to the acidic environment[42] These nano-material based SAs provide a wide spectral range of operation, along with high integration capability. One important application of nonlinear optics, ultrafast pulse generation in fiber laser cavities, has not yet been fully explored in biocompatible materials including DNA, despite its high importance and potential. The authors report a new side of DNA’s physical properties, unique nonlinear optical behavior of DNA thin solid film in the femtosecond regime, and the application of DNA as a biocompatible SA to realize an ultrafast Er-doped fiber laser, for the first time to the best knowledge of the authors. We combined a DNA-based organic SA with an Erbium doped fiber as an inorganic gain medium in a compact all-fiber ring cavity as shown in Fig. 1c, and we successfully mode-locked a ring cavity to generate stable transform-limited femtosecond soliton pulse trains in the anomalous dispersion regime at an eye-safe wavelength of 1.5 μm, for the first time
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