Dry-transfer technique for polymer-free single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber on a side polished fiber

Abstract

We fabricate single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers on a side-polished fiber by a dry transfer technique. We demonstrate that this method allows for the easy and robust implementation of polymer-free carbon nanotube film for an evanescent field interaction in the fiber laser cavity. The high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes are synthesized by the aerosol CVD method with absorption maximum tuned to an erbium doped fiber laser emission line. The Q-switch and mode-lock regimes as well as the harmonic mode-lock regime with the 79th order are successfully demonstrated with this approach. Critical power for damage threshold is estimated.