Abstract
Transmission- and reflection-type single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) were designed and fabricated for passive mode-locking of bulk lasers in the 1 microm spectral range. Mode-locked laser operation based on a diffusion-bonded Yb:KYW/KYW crystal was demonstrated, and pulses as short as 83 fs and 140 fs were achieved applying reflection-type and transmission-type SWCNT-SA, respectively. The nonlinear parameters of the absorbers were measured to be in close vicinity to those of a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror for the same wavelength range. Mode-locking performance with SWCNT-SAs and the SESAM was compared utilizing the same cavity, with the SESAM resulting in only slightly shorter pulses of 66 fs duration. The nearly identical performance indicates that well-optimized SWCNT-SAs can substitute SESAMs even in the 1 microm region.
Highlights
Single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) are unique nanostructures that feature interesting optical properties [1,2] beside curious electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties
Novel reflection-type single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) were successfully fabricated and applied for ultrafast mode-locking of solid-state lasers in the 1 μm spectral range
These values are very close to those measured for the semiconductorbased ultrafast saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs)
Summary
Single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) are unique nanostructures that feature interesting optical properties [1,2] beside curious electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties. The first efforts of passive mode-locking with SWCNT-SAs were mainly restricted to fiber lasers, since the single-pass gain of fiber lasers is much higher than that of other laser materials The reported carbon nanotube absorber mode-locked bulk laser results were achieved with transmission-type SWCNT-SAs. Here we report, what we believe to be the first demonstration of a SWCNT-SA modelocked laser with sub-100 fs pulse duration in the 1 μm range. The nonlinear parameters important for stable mode locking are investigated by pump-probe and nonlinear transmission measurements for both saturable absorber devices This comparison shows that SWCNT-SAs – like SESAMs in the early years of their development – are further maturing and are becoming a match to the well established SESAM technology
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