Abstract

We report on the thermally manipulable waveguide laser emission by integrating the ultra-thin vanadium dioxide membrance with the waveguide as the saturable absorber. Combined with the study of unique optical features of the vanadium dioxide, the waveguide laser exhibits the significant laser operation switching between the picosecond laser and the continuous-wave laser. The saturable absorption of the vanadium dioxide exhibited the thermal hysteresis. Hence the continuous and picosecond laser can exist at the same temperature and can be respectively excited by the cooling and heating treatment.

© 2016 Optical Society of America