CW-pumped short pulsed 1.12 μm Raman laser using carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We demonstrate passive mode-locking of a Raman fiber laser at 1.12 µm, using a nanotube-based saturable absorber. A regular train of pulses, with a duration of 236 ps at the fundamental repetition frequency of the cavity, are generated by the all-normal dispersion oscillator. Importantly, this simple system is pumped with a continuous wave Yb fiber laser, removing the need for complex synchronous pumping schemes, where pulse-shaping depends on the action of the saturable absorber and a balance of dissipative processes. These results illustrate the flexibility of combining Raman amplification with a nanotube-based absorber for wavelength versatile pulsed sources.

Carbon Nanotube Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Generating Cylindrical Vector Beams with a Two-Mode Fiber Bragg Grating

“…Fiber lasers with an FMF base have been utilized to generated both continuous wave (CW) and pulsed (Q-switched and mode-locked) CVBs [11][12][13]. Regarding mode-locking methods for generating mode-locked CVB, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have emerged as promising saturable absorbers [14][15][16] with an ultrafast recovery time [17,18], able to support short pulses [19,20], and with a number of favorable properties for laser development, such as broadband operation [21], and integration into all-fiber configurations [22,23]. Moreover, there are few works on carbon nanotube mode-locked CVB fiber lasers.…”

Mid-infrared Raman-soliton continuum pumped by a nanotube-mode-locked sub-picosecond Tm-doped MOPFA

“…Extension of the infrared edge of the continuum can be achieved using a longer wavelength pump source [26,27]. Examples of suitable pump systems include: broadly tunable, ultrashort pulse optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) and optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) [25][26][27][28] and, more recently [13], thulium-(Tm) doped fiber-based systems [13]. OPAs and OPOs, however, are complex and expensive systems and cannot deliver the benefit of a compact design, efficient heat dissipation, and alignment-free operation offered by fiber lasers [5].…”

“…NPR and SESAMs, however, can suffer from environmental sensitivity or require complex fabrication [5]. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [28][29][30][31][32][33] and graphene [29,31,[34][35][36][37], have emerged as alternative saturable absorbers (SA) with ultrafast recovery time [38][39][40], able to support short pulses, and with a number of favorable properties, such as broadband operation [34,38], and ease of fabrication [31,35,41] and integration [30] into all-fiber configurations. While broadband operation is an intrinsic property of graphene [35], in CNTs this can be achieved using a distribution of tube diameters [34].…”

Multi-wavelength Q-switched erbium-doped fibre laser using saturable absorber based on carbon nanotube film

“…This method seems to be promising since it allows for excellent homogeneous dispersion of the SWCNT and, moreover, a resulting composite can be used to fabricate thin films. Up to date, many works have been reported on the integration of SWCNT/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) SAs into fibre laser systems for ultra-short pulse generation (see, e.g., [8]). However, most of the works involving the SWCNT-based SAs have been directed at building mode-locked fibre lasers [9,10], while Q-switched fibre lasers have been addressed seldom enough [11].…”