Ultrashort-pulse erbium-doped fibre laser using a saturable absorber based on single-wall carbon nanotubes synthesised by the arc-discharge method

An erbium-doped fibre laser operating in self-mode-locked regime achieved with the help of a saturable absorber based on single-wall carbon nanotubes synthesised by the arc-discharge method is fabricated and studied. Due to the development of an original method for preparing samples, films of the optical quality containing individual single-wall carbon nanotubes were synthesised. The study of the dependence of resonance absorption at a wavelength of 1.5 μm on the laser radiation intensity transmitted through a film showed that these films have nonlinear transmission and can be used in fibre lasers as saturable absorbers to provide self-mode locking. Stable transform-limited pulses having the shape of optical solitons were generated at a wavelength of 1557.5 nm in the laser with a ring resonator. The pulse duration was 1.13 ps at a pulse repetition rate of 20.5 MHz. The continuous output power achieved 1.1 mW upon pumping by a 25-mW laser diode at 980 nm.