Cobalt nitrate as a saturable absorber in pulsed fiber lasers

An erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) utilizing cobalt nitrate as a saturable absorber is demonstrated in this work. The cobalt nitrate saturable absorber is incorporated into the laser cavity, which generates pulses with durations ranging from 17.7 to 5.7 μs and repetition rates between 21.57 and 86.92 kHz, as the pump power is varied from 20.8 to 278.96 mW. The system achieves an average output power ranging from 0.07 to 1.08 mW, with pulse energies varying from 3.25 to 12.43 nJ, and a peak power increasing from 0.18 to 2.18 mW. This study suggests that the EDFL utilizing cobalt nitrate as a saturable absorber could find applications in where pulsed laser sources are essential.