Switchable dual-wavelength fiber laser mode-locked by monolayer graphene on D-shaped fiber

Abstract

A switchable mode-locking fiber laser is demonstrated by means of a monolayer graphene saturable absorber (SA) based on a D-shaped fiber. The monolayer graphene, which is grown by chemical vapor deposition, is transferred onto the D-shaped fiber and then the light–graphene interaction via the evanescent field of the fiber is enhanced greatly. Using such a graphene-based SA, the single-wavelength mode locking can be switched from 1531.5 to 1559.1 nm by appropriately adjusting the polarization controller (PC). In addition, the stable dual-wavelength mode-locking operation is also observed at the proper state of PC.