Carbon nanotube mode-locked fiber lasers: recent progress and perspectives

Dai, Lilong; Huang, Zinan; Huang, Qianqian; Chen, Zhao; Rozhin, Aleksey; Sergeyev, Sergey; Araimi, Mohammed Al; Mou, Chengbo

doi:10.1515/nanoph-2020-0446

Cited by 45 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 307 publications

(351 reference statements)

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“…Here, a s is the maximum change in the transmittance or absorption rate when the material reaches saturation absorption. In general, it is easier to obtain a mode-locked laser with a narrow pulse width using a larger modulation depth; [43][44][45] I sat is defined as the optical intensity required to achieve half of the modulation depth, which has a certain influence on the Qswitched or mode-locked threshold; 7,46 a ns refers to the loss that still exists when the material reaches the saturation absorption state, which is mainly related to scattering caused by the rough surface of the material, absorption loss caused by crystal defects, and nonlinear absorption of free carriers. When a ns is large, the performances of the laser including output power and slope efficiency will be low.…”

Section: Preparation and Nonlinear Optical Response Of Ptte 2 Nanoshe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

Tao

et al. 2022

J. Mater. Chem. C

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Section: Preparation and Nonlinear Optical Response Of Ptte 2 Nanoshe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

Tao

et al. 2022

J. Mater. Chem. C

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“…The DWCNT and MWCNT are constructed from at least two concentric cylindrical graphene shells coaxially lining up around a central hollow core whilst its adjacent layer is connected via van der Waals’ force. [ 66 ] Both DWCNT and MWCNT can be fabricated in a more lenient production environment and show a higher thermal damage threshold than SWCNT. Nevertheless, the saturation intensity of MWCNT is extremely high at ≈100 GW cm −2 .…”

Section: Cnt and Graphenementioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison for Saturable Absorbers: Carbon Nanotube Versus Graphene

Lau

Liu

Qiu

2022

Advanced Photonics Research

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Saturable absorption is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that is characterized by the reduced optical loss at high light intensity. At low light intensity, the saturable absorber (SA) absorbs light and results in an optical loss. When the light intensity is increased, the available energy states become depleted, leading to a reduction in absorption. For semiconductors, the saturated optical absorption under strong excitation is in conjunction with the Pauli expulsion of occupying carriers at the edge of the filled conduction band thus allowing photons to penetrate through the material without further absorption. [1] When incorporated into a mode-locked laser cavity, the saturable absorption process begins from the inherent noise fluctuations of a laser cavity. A dominant noise spike with the highest intensity will saturate the absorber and decreases the absorbance loss such as the pedestal peaks. [2] Next, this noise spike is amplified in subsequent round trips until a stable pulse train is eventually formed. This favors the generation of ultrafast laser pulses over continuous-wave laser operation. During the formation of ultrafast laser pulses, the SA is operated either as slow or fast SA. The main difference between these two SA configurations is their relaxation time. The relaxation time of a slow SA is longer than its pulse duration measured from the mode-locked laser. The long time constant results in reduced saturation intensity due to slow recovery of absorption. [3] Therefore, the slow SA self-starts the modelocked laser at a lower power threshold. In contrast, the relaxation time of fast SA is shorter than its pulse duration measured from the mode-locked laser. Owing to the fast relaxation time, the electrons in the conduction band will return to the valence band at a period shorter than the pulse duration. This constitutes the higher power threshold to self-start the mode-locked laser.Despite the difficulty to self-start the mode-locking, the fast SA is responsible for the stabilization of the laser. The fast SA has ultrafast carrier relaxation time for the SA to recover from bleaching with minimal time. [4] Besides stabilization, ultrafast relaxation time is also crucial to shortening the pulse duration of the mode-locked laser. [5] Before the advent of ultrashort pulse with relaxation time ranging from a few ps to a few hundred fs, semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) was demonstrated with a complex post-fabrication process. For instance, ion implantation is needed to reduce its relaxation time to ps time scale. This encourages the discovery of a material with sub-picosecond recovery time, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) [6] and graphene. [7] Both CNT and graphene have ultrafast and slow recovery from saturation. In a femtosecond laser, the CNT will typically act as a slow SA due to its recovery time of few ps, whereas the graphene will typically act as a fast SA due to its

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“…[23][24][25] However, the difficulties in chirality and tube diameter control of CNT restricts its application as SA at longer working wavelength, for example, 2 𝜇m. [26,27] Later in 2009, graphene SA was first demonstrated after CNT by Hasan et al [28] and Bao et al [29] Graphene is a 2D band-free semi-metal with semiconducting properties and exhibits ultrafast recovery time, high electron mobility up to 10 6 cm 2 V −1 S −1 , and strong nonlinear refractive index of ≈10 −7 cm 2 W −1 . [30][31][32] In spite of graphene's inherent zero bandgap for broadband operation ranging from X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), visible, to near-infrared (NIR) and (midinfrared) MIR, its low on/off switching ratio and low absorption of 2.3% per graphene layer restricts its light-matter interaction strength and practical applications for optoelectronics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MXene Saturable Absorbers in Mode‐Locked Fiber Laser

Lau

Liu

Qiu

2022

Laser & Photonics Reviews

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Being a new class of two dimensional (2D) metal carbides, borides, and nitrides, MXenes comprise one of the largest families of 2D nanomaterials that provide huge possibilities in photonics, electronics, and energy, Particularly, MXenes are discovered recently as alternatives to conventional saturable absorbers (SAs), such as carbon nanotube and graphene, which are used for short laser pulse generation. The high saturable absorption, astounding modulation depth, flexible bandgap tunability, and high electron density near Fermi level are the main features that make MXenes excellent candidate materials for SAs. Herein, this review summarizes the recent development on synthesis and characterization of the MXene, with focus on the nonlinear saturable absorption and the application of the MXene SA in mode‐locked fiber lasers. The emerging issues and challenges associated with MXene based SAs, as well as future perspectives of the reviewed topic are also discussed.

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Carbon nanotube mode-locked fiber lasers: recent progress and perspectives

Cited by 45 publications

References 307 publications

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

A Comparison for Saturable Absorbers: Carbon Nanotube Versus Graphene

MXene Saturable Absorbers in Mode‐Locked Fiber Laser

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Carbon nanotube mode-locked fiber lasers: recent progress and perspectives

Cited by 45 publications

References 307 publications

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe2 based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe2 based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

A Comparison for Saturable Absorbers: Carbon Nanotube Versus Graphene

MXene Saturable Absorbers in Mode‐Locked Fiber Laser

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Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics

Nonlinear optical properties of PtTe₂ based saturable absorbers for ultrafast photonics