Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorber: Materials and Application to Femtosecond Short Pulse Laser
Youichi Sakakibara, Aleksey G. Rozhin, Shun Matsuzaki, Madoka Tokumoto, Kohtaro Ishida, Yohji Achiba and Hiromichi Kataura
Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) show an optical nonlinearity as saturable absorber in the near-infrared region including optical fiber communication wavelengths. To effectively utilize this nonlinearity and construct practical devices with this new class of material, we have developed material engineering of SWCNT, including diameter control and nano-dispersion of SWCNTs into polymer matrix. This paper presents third order nonlinear optical susceptibility of SWCNT-polyvinylalcohol nanocomposite material. Also, the paper demonstrates 210 fs passively mode-locked pulse lasing of an Er-doped fiber laser at 1.56 micron using the nanocomposite films.