ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a summary of the advances in ultra-fast pulsed lasers based on Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. It discusses the fundamentals of saturable absorption of 2D layered materials and explores the state of the art of graphene pulsed lasers. The chapter examines transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) pulsed lasers and other 2D layered material pulsed lasers. TMDs, a family of layered 2D materials, have captured a great deal of research interest for potential applications in optoelectronic devices. TMD materials have been used to fabricate solar cells, photo-detectors and transistors. A number of experiments show that TMD materials exhibit a sub-bandgap saturable absorption property. Inspired by successful demonstration of graphene- and TMD-based saturable absorber, there is also great interest to try other 2D materials. Beside graphene and TMDs, there are also other 2D layered materials being investigated for pulsed lasers. Semiconductor disk lasers mode-locked with graphene were also investigated.
