Stable mode-locked fiber laser based on CVD fabricated graphene saturable absorber
Journal
Optics Express
Journal Volume
20
Journal Issue
3
Pages
2460-2465
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
A stable mode-locked fiber laser (MLFL) employing multi-layer graphene as saturable absorber (SA) is presented. The multi-layer graphene were grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on Ni close to A-A stacking. Linear absorbance spectrum of multi-layer graphene was observed without absorption peak from 400 to 2000 nm. Optical nonlinearities of different atomic-layers (7-, 11-, 14-, and 21-layers) graphene based SA are investigated and compared. The results found that the thicker 21-layer graphene based SA exhibited a smaller modulation depth (MD) value of 2.93% due to more available density of states in the band structure of multilayer graphene and favored SA nonlinearity. A stable MLFL of 21-layer graphene based SA showed a pulsewidth of 432.47 fs, a bandwidth of 6.16 nm, and a time-bandwidth product (TBP) of 0.323 at fundamental solitonlike operation. This study demonstrates that the atomic-layer structure of graphene from CVD process may provide a reliable graphene based SA for stable soliton-like pulse formation of the MLFL. © 2012 Optical Society of America.
Other Subjects
Bandwidth; Chemical vapor deposition; Fiber lasers; Graphene; Nonlinear optics; Solitons; Absorption peaks; CVD process; Density of state; Linear absorbance; Modulation depth; Non-Linearity; Optical nonlinearity; Pulse formation; Pulsewidths; Saturable absorbers; Soliton-like; Time-bandwidth products; Mode-locked fiber lasers; graphite; nanoparticle; absorption; article; chemistry; computer aided design; equipment; equipment design; fiber optics; instrumentation; laser; Absorption; Computer-Aided Design; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Fiber Optic Technology; Graphite; Lasers; Nanoparticles
Type
journal article