Graphene-based saturable absorber for high average-power fiber lasers

Owing to its strong optical characteristics, graphene has emerged in the field of ultrafast lasers as a prominent saturable absorber. In this communication, we present a passively mode-locked Er:Yb doped double-clad fiber laser using a graphene deposited tapered fiber (GDTF). Averaging 20 μm of diameter with a length of 6 mm, the taper enables a strong light–graphene interaction owing to the evanescent field of the excited cladding mode. To create the saturable absorber device, graphene solution is carefully deposited via a micro syringe so that the waist of the taper is completely immersed into the aqueous solution. Then, a continuous wave laser with output power up to 95-mW centered at 1550 nm is injected into the taper. Deposition of graphene onto the taper by the optical tweezers effect started when the transmitted power dropped significantly. Afterwards, the GDTF is implemented in a fiber cavity to test its mode-locking performance. At the maximum available pump power, we obtain the 326th harmonic mode locking of soliton bunches with average output power of 520 mW.

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