Photonic Device Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, South Korea.
Department of Physics and Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, South Korea.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 15;13(1):17494. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44242-z.
Using aqueous precursors, we report successfully fabricating thin-solid films of two nucleic acids, ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). We investigated the potential of these films deposited on a fiber optic platform as all-fiber integrated saturable absorbers (SAs) for ultrafast nonlinear optics. RNA-SA performances were comparable to those of DNA-SA in terms of its nonlinear transmission, modulation depth, and saturation intensity. Upon insertion of these devices into an Erbium-doped fiber ring-laser cavity, both RNA and DNA SAs enabled efficient passive Q-switching operation. RNA-SA application further facilitated robust mode-locking and generated a transform-limited soliton pulse, exhibiting a pulse duration of 633 femtoseconds. A detailed analysis of these pulsed laser characteristics compared RNA and DNA fiber optic SAs with other nonlinear optic materials. The findings of this research establish the feasibility of utilizing RNA as a saturable absorber in ultrafast laser systems with an equal or higher potential as DNA, which presents novel possibilities for the nonlinear photonic applications of nucleic acid thin solid films.
我们使用水性前体成功制备了两种核酸（RNA 和 DNA）的薄固态薄膜。我们研究了这些沉积在光纤平台上的薄膜作为全光纤集成可饱和吸收体（SA）在超快非线性光学中的潜在应用。在非线性传输、调制深度和饱和强度方面，RNA-SA 的性能可与 DNA-SA 相媲美。将这些器件插入掺铒光纤环形激光器腔中，RNA 和 DNA-SA 均可实现有效的被动 Q 开关操作。RNA-SA 的应用进一步促进了稳健的锁模，并产生了一个变换限制的孤子脉冲，其脉冲持续时间为 633 飞秒。通过详细分析这些脉冲激光特性，我们将 RNA 和 DNA 光纤 SA 与其他非线性光学材料进行了比较。这项研究的结果确立了 RNA 作为超快激光系统中可饱和吸收体的可行性，其性能与 DNA 相当或更高，为核酸薄膜在非线性光子学应用方面提供了新的可能性。
