Open AccessOptical deposition of graphene and carbon nanotubes in a fiber ferrule for passive mode-locked lasing
Author(s) -
Amós Martínez,
Kazuyuki Fuse,
Bo Xu,
Shinji Yamashita
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.023054
Subject(s) - materials science , graphene , lasing threshold , carbon nanotube , ferrule , optoelectronics , fiber laser , photonic crystal fiber , optical fiber , graphene nanoribbons , optics , nanotechnology , wavelength , physics
Mode-locked fiber lasers are currently undergoing a significant evolution towards higher pulse energies and shorter pulse durations. A key enabler in this progress has been the discovery of novel saturable absorbers (SA) such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene. The exceptional properties of CNTs as SA have been extensively studied in recent years. Graphene, a one atom thick planar sheet of carbon atoms arranged into a hexagonal lattice, has been recently proposed as an alternative to CNTs in several photonics applications. Here, we propose a method for the integration of graphene into a fiber ferrule using an optical deposition technique, which has been also employed for the deposition of CNT directly on the core of a fiber edge and in tapered fibers. We investigate and compare the optical properties of CNT-SA and graphene-SA fabricated by this optical deposition technique. Soliton-like, mode-locked lasing is confirmed using an erbium doped optical fiber in an all-fiber ring cavity laser configuration.