Carbon Nanomaterials Based Saturable Absorbers for Ultrafast Passive Mode-Locking of Fiber Lasers

Abstract

This paper emphasizes on overviewing the developing progress of the state-of-the-art carbon nanomaterial-based saturable absorbers for passively mode-locked fiber lasers, including carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, graphite and other carbon nanomaterials. With reviewing the performances of these proposed candidates, the characteristic parameters required for initiating and stabilizing the passive mode-locked fiber lasers are summarized for comparison and discussion. At first, the basic characteristics such as saturation intensity and self-amplitude-modulation (SAM) coefficients of the CNT material with different-wall types are discussed in detail. In comparison, the single-wall CNT possesses optical nonlinearity better than double-wall CNT, whereas the doublewall CNT exhibits wavelength tenability and the multi-wall CNT fails to initiate mode-locking. Subsequently, different graphene saturable absorbers with slightly changing their optical properties made by various fabrication technologies are introduced to take over the role of typical CNT saturable absorber. The detailed analyses on graphene saturable absorber for developing various types of passively mode-locked fiber lasers are overviewed. At last, other new-aspect graphite and carbon nanomaterials related saturable absorbers have emerged because they reveal similar optical nonlinearity with graphene but exhibit cost-effectiveness and easy-production. When changing saturable absorber from graphene to other carbon nanomaterials, the modulation depth is decreased but the saturation intensity is concurrently enlarged because of the disordered structure with increased interlayer spacing and reduced graphene content. At the current stage, selecting carbon nanomaterials with high nonlinear absorbance and low saturated intensity for large SAM coefficient is the golden rule for passively mode-locked the fiber lasers in future academic and industrial applications.

Characterizations of Nanodiamond Composite Film for Photonics Applications

“…This value for modulation depth is suitable and reasonable for using the film in pulse shaping, specifically, in operation of a short pulse generation and reliable self-starting of mode locked lasers [54]. The non-saturable absorption of our film is 10%, such value is not very low but still lower than value obtained from other films in previous work such as CBNM [33]. Indeed, in most cases it is resulted from the film thickness and the presence of impurity within the film.…”

“…The ND particles in the form of colloidal suspensions with diameters of 4-5 nm have become obtainable for different applications [26,32]. Thus, potential applications of ND suspensions have been brokeninto additives for diamond sensors, grain refining agent, lubricants, antioxidants, bio imaging, diamond optical limiters, and drug delivery [26,[33][34][35]. The function of ND suspensions in each one of these applications is unique [31,36].…”

Facile Synthesis of Monodispersed Titanium Nitride Quantum Dots for Harmonic Mode-Locking Generation in an Ultrafast Fiber Laser

“…Generally, the saturation recovery time is shorter, and it is easier to promote the generation of ultrashort pulses [42]. For decades, the materials used for pulse generation as SAs have been gradually discovered by researchers [43]. There are two main types, semiconductor materials typically represented by SESAMs, and nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes.…”

Femtosecond Er-Doped All-Fiber Laser with High-Density Well-Aligned Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thin-Film Saturable Absorber

“…SAs and other 2D van der Waals materials [ 11 , 12 ] have ultrafast saturable absorption at the infrared spectral region. Among these materials, a special place is occupied by reliable and popular saturable absorbers based on various carbon nanostructures, such as single-wall carbon nanotubes, graphene, and graphene oxide [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In addition to the cost advantages, SWCNTs-SAs significantly improve the noise characteristics of lasers and have an ultrafast relaxation time [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”