Passively mode-locking erbium-doped fiber lasers with 0.3 nm single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Abstract

We demonstrate a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) by using the smallest single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with a diameter of 0.3 nm as the saturable absorber. These ultrasmall SWNTs are fabricated in the elliptical nanochannels of a ZnAPO4-11 (AEL) single crystal. By placing an AEL crystal into an EDFL cavity pumped by a 980 nm laser diode, stable passive mode-locking is achieved for a threshold pump power of 280 mW, and 73 ps pulses at 1563.2 nm with a repetition rate of 26.79 MHz.