B LKENT UN VERS TY PHYS CS DEPARTMENT SUBJECT- Advanced Optics

Title Carbon Nanotube & Graphene As Saturable Absorbers In Cavities and Fibers

Term Paper prepared by Tesfay Teamir Submited to

Asst. Prof. Fatih mer lday

Literature review
Nonlinear optics studies the interaction of intense light field with matter, it is a relatively new field in physics with lots of fundamental scientific and technological potential. all materials including gases, liquids and solids can exhibit non linearity when exposed to intense radiation which is their intrinsic properties [1,2]. according to their NLO response, materials can be divided into molecular materials and bulk materials. The non linearity in the former is determined by the structure of the individual molecules, while in the latter the non linearity is related to the electronic characteristics of the bulk materials [3]. Following the presentation of there is plenty development of nanotechnology in the past few nanomaterials have been identified and shown motivates the design and fabrication of nano devices [3,4]. of room at the bottom by R.Fineman rapid decades has been observed, a large number of to possess significant NLO properties, which and nano-scale photonic and photoelectronic

In addition to the outstanding mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, the unique NLO properties of CNTs and Graphine have generated much research interest from both experimental and theoretical point of view[3-6]. Many of these properties are believed to be governed by the presence of the van-Hove singularities (vHs) in the electronic density of states (DOS) [5,6]. These singularities have experimentally been observed through the scanning tunneling spectroscopy, the resonant Raman spectroscopy and more recently in the optical absorption spectra [5,6]. A second order diameter dependent optical susceptibility, which is 10 times larger than GaAs (GaAs is among the semiconductors which possess the largest second order optical susceptibilities.) has been reported [7]. Another experiment confirmed that the carbon nanotubes have their own third-order optical nonlinearity at both 1064 and 532 nm and on both picosecond and nanosecond scale[8]. Even considerable NLO enhancement effect was observed when An amino-moiety-containing conjugated polymer, POTABQ, was attached to carbon nanotubes [9]. Since its first isolation in 2004, graphene has become one of the most shining materials and is now at the hub of scientific research. it is a single two dimensional atomic layer of carbon atoms forming a honeycomb crystal lattice. It is a semiconductor that has a zero-bandgap and a linear energy dispersion relation for both electrons and holes [10]. By using four wave-mixing techniques, Graphene is reported to have high optica nonlinear response in near infrared and visible frequencies, which is dispersionless over wavelength range (760-840nm). amplitude of the emission peak shows a cubic dependence on the intensity of the pump pulses, which confirms the third-order nature of the response (centrosymmetric materials, such as isolated sheets of graphene, do not possess second-order optical nonlinearities [11,12]). Following their 2nd and mostly 3rd harmonic ONL matterials exhabit certain magical properties. Saturable absorption is one of these properties in non linear phenomena in which absorption coefficient of a material decreases with increasing incident light intensity. The introduction of such SA in to a laser resonator forced the laser to operate in pulsed rather than continuous mode. Some of saturableabsorber are, semiconductor saturable absorber, such as a nonlinear polarization switch , a nonlinear optical loop-mirror (NOLM), and its variants[13,14]. Among these mode lockers, the quantum-well semiconductor-based device, commonly referred to as semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM)[16], has become the main device used in for

commercial purpose.However, there are a number of drawbacks associated with SESAMs. SESAMs require complex and costly clean-room based fabrication systems. its use is restricted to only certain types of linear cavity topologies. SESAM may also suffer from a low optical damage threshold [18,13]. SWCNTs and graphene are ideal SAs. Due to their low saturation intensity, high non linearity, ultrafast recovery time, high tolerance of optical damege, and relatively easy fabrication[19]. Broad band operation is achieved in SWCNTs using a distribution of tube diameters, while this is an intrinsic property of graphene due to the gapless linear dispersion of Drac electrons. The following diagrams show the z-scan results of carbone nano tubes and graphene respectively. As we can see the output power increases with increase in pump power which is property of SA matterials [16,17].

A passive mode-locked fiber laser with a controlable SWNT based saturable obsorber coated on polyamide film was fabricated which ables to generate a 133fs soliton pulse with average power of 5 MW at repitation rate of 42 Mhz[15]. Another polymer doped with CNTs dielectric passively mode locked laser able to produce 68fs pulse at 1570nm with pulse-repetition rate of 85 MHz.[18]. Q-switching using SWCNTs was also reported to result in a pulse energy of 14.1nJ and 7micro second width [13,19] and 13.3nJ and 700 micro second width[13,19]. A shortlinear cavity Q-switched fiber laser with compact short CNT based saturable absorber w th SWCNTs deposited on core the surface of EDF end was reported to have improved stablity of cavity and a pulse energy of 0.91nJ at a pump power of 181.6mw. This pulse energy is suggested to be improved by improving the pump power, by adopting a higher concentration of EDF and further reducing the nsertion loss of the CNT-sa [14 20]. Multilayer graphene has been used to mode-lock fiber Lasers to generate picosecond pulses in an Nd:YAG ceramics laser. CVD-grown single-layer graphene has also been demonstrated to be

able to generate femtosecond pulses in a Cr:forsterite laser [21]. recently another article demonstrate a fiber laser Q-switched by graphene SA pumped by 980nm laser diod. The broad band absorption of graphene enables the Q-switching to come up w th over a 32nm range, pulse energy around 40nJ with pulse duration of 2 micro second, and repetation rate 60khz which is similar to that achieved by other SAs. the pump energy is much larger than SWCNTs based Qswitched lasers and 6 times larger when compared to mode-locked graphene fiber laser but with less power, due to large pulse duration[13,14,22]. The purpose of this material script is to review the non linear optical properties of CNTs (1D structures) and graphine (2D structure), their applications (especially as a saturable Absorber), and application potentials.

Conclusion
CNTs and Graphene show second and third order optical nonlinearities and researches have been done on their nonlinear behaviour. They had been studied as optical limiters, wave guiding matterials and pulse smothers. their applications as a Saturable Absorber in laser cavities and fibers has been found the most promising so far (atleast it has low cost and tunnablity advantages over (SESAMs)). Farthermore these non linear properties showed enhancement with polymer conjugates, metallic oxides and metallic complexes of these nanomaterials. I try to investigate the application of CNTs and Graphene as saturable Absorbers. As one can see from the bar graphs shown below the number of publications grow every year which shows how these materials become research interests world wide.

Fig.a and b shows Laser fiber and cavity related publications which use CNTs and graphene as a Saturable Absorbers. we can see from the diagrams the rate of increase in publication is higher for graphene in the last three years and this could be as a result of the easyness in tunablity of graphene.

In my opinion the following two issues can be defined as a resealable problems. 1. I found no article which uses or explains the extra ordinary thermal conductivity of these materials as stabilizing agent in high power fiber lasers. I think one can use this property to designed a fiber laser so that it may improve efficiency by reducing heating effect. New materials drived from these nanomaterials such as conjugates, metallic oxides, and metallic complexes of CNTs and Graphene showed enhancement in nonlinear properties. however, not much has been done on the application of these materials as a saturable absorbers for mode-locking or Q-switching of laser fibers and cavities.

2.

E. Hendry1_, P. J. Hale1, J. J. Moger1, A. K. Savchenko1, and S. A. Mikhailov2

5. References
1. 2. 3. R. W. BOYD, NONL NEAR OPT CS, ACADEM C PRESS, 1992. W. Nie. Adv. Muter. 1993, 5, No. 718 J.WANG, Y. CHEN AND W.J. BLAU, JOURNAL OF M ATER ALS CHEM STRY PUBL SHERS, 2009, 10.1039/B906294G 4. P. N. PRASAD, NANOPHOTON CS, W LEYBLACKWELL, 2004. 5. A. PRATAP, A. L. SHAH, A. R. SINGH, S. PAL, R. K. TYAGI, A. L. DAWAR LASER SC ENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, METCALFE HOUSE, DELH -110 054, IND A 6. J. WANG, Y. CHENB AND W.J. BLAU, JOURNAL OF MATER ALS CHEM STRY, DOI: 10.1039/B906294G, 2009 7. G.Y GUE, K.C. CHU, PHYS CAL REV EW B69,205416, 2004 8. X. L U, J. S , B.CHANG, G. XU, Q.YANG, Z. PAN, S. X E,AND P.YEA, APPL. PHYS. LETT. 74, 164 (1999); DO : 10.1063/1.123282. 9. W. YI1, W. FENG1 , Y. XU2 AND H. WU2, APPL. PHYS, 44 (2005) PP. 3022-3027 10. H. ZHANG, D.Y. TANG, L.M. ZHAO, Q.L. BAO, K.P. LOH, B. L N, AND S.C. TJ N, LASER PHYS. LETT. 7, NO. 8, 591596 (2010) 11. R.W. BOYD, NONL NEAR OPT CS (ACADEM C PRESS, NEW YORK, 1992). 12. E. HENDRY,* P. J. HALE, J. MOGER, AND A. K. SAVCHENKO PHYS CS REV EW LETTER, PRL 105, 097401 (2010) 11 13. D. POPA, Z. SUN, T. HASAN, F. TORR S , F. WANG, AND A. C. FERRAR , APPL EDE PHYS CS LETTERS, 98, 073106 2011 14. BO DONG, J. HAO, J. HU, C.Y. L AW, E LSEVER, OPT CAL F BER TECHNOLOGY 17 (2011) 105107 15. F. SHOHDA, M. NAKAZAWA, J. MATA, AND J. TSUKAMOTO, OPT CS E XPRESS, V OL. 18, ISSUE 9, PP. 9712-9721 (2010) 16. A.G. ROZH N, Y. SAKAK BARA, M.TOKUMOTOA, H.KATAURAB, Y. ACH BA, ELSEV ER, TH N S OL D F LMS 464465 (2004) 368372, 2004 17. Q. BAO, H.ZHANG, Y. WANG, Z. N , Y. YAN, Z. X. SHEN, K. P. LOH, AND D. Y. TANG,ADV. FUNCT. MATER. 2009, 19, 30773083 18. T. R. SCH BL , K. M NOSH M, H. KATAURA, E. ITOGA, N. M NAM , S. KAZAOU , K. M YASH TA, M. TOKUMOTO, Y. SAKAK BARA, UMEZONO, TSUKUBA, IBARAK 305-8563, JAPAN 19. D. ZHOU, L. WE , B. DONG, AND W. L U, IEEE PHOTON. TECHNOL. LETT. 22, 9, 2010. 20. B. DONG, C. L AW, J. HAO, AND J. HU, APPL. OPT. 49, 5989 2010 21. D. POPA, Z. SUN, T. HASAN, F. TORR S , F. WANG, AND A. C. FERRAR , APPL EDE PHYS CS LETTERS, 98, 073106 2011 22. T. R. SCH BL , K. M NOSH MA, H. KATAURA, E. ITOGA, N. M NAM , S. KAZAOU , K. M YASH TA, M. TOKUMOTO, Y. SAKAK BARA, UMEZONO, TSUKUBA, IBARAK 305-8563, JAPAN, 2005

Laser fiber and cavity related publications which use CNTs as a Saturable Absorber
No title Nonlinear photonics in carbon nanotubes and graphenes High energy pulse generation using a carbon-nanotube-deposited fiber device Dual-wavelength mode-locked Yb:LuYSiO5 laser with a double-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber Soliton Thulium-Doped Fiber Laser With Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorber All-fiber polarization locked vector soliton laser using carbon nanotubes Publicati on year 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

Low noise erbium fiber fs frequency comb based on a tapered-fiber carbon nanotube design Femtosecond Nd:Glass Lasers Pumped by Single-Mode Laser Diodes and Mode Locked With Carbon Nanotube or Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirrors All-fiber polarization locked vector soliton laser using carbon nanotubes A SESAM passively mode-locked fiber laser with a long cavity including a band pass filter Nanotube-based passively mode-locked Raman laser Double-wall carbon nanotube absorber for passively mode-locked Yb3+:Sc2SiO5 laser Fentosecond Nd:glass lasers mode-locked w th carbon nanotubes saturable absorbable mirror Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with a carbon nanotube saturable absorber Short linear-cavity Q-switched fiber laser with a compact short carbon nanotube based saturable absorber Passive mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser using a multi-walled carbon nanotube saturableabsorber All-fiber normal-dispersion femtosecond laser Short linear-cavity Q-switched fiber laser with a compact short carbon nanotube based saturable absorber 2 m passive Q-switched mode-locked Tm3+:YAP laser with single-walled carbon nanotube absorber A dual-loss-modulated intra-cavity frequency-doubled Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:Lu0.15Y0.85VO4/KTP green laser with a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber and an acousto-optic modulator Timing-jitter reduction of passively mode-locked fiber laser with a carbon nanotube saturable absorber by optimization of cavity loss Nanotube Q-switched low-threshold linear cavity tunable erbium-doped fiber laser Generation of Few-Cycle Pulses From an Amplified Carbon Nanotube Mode-Locked Fiber Laser System Ultrafast Stretched-Pulse Fiber Laser Mode-Locked by Carbon Nanotubes Boosting the Nonlinear Optical Response of Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorbers for Broadband Mode-Locking of Bulk Lasers A 113 fs fiber laser operating at 1.56 mum using a cascadable film-type saturable absorber with P3HT-incorporated single-wall carbon nanotubes coated on polyamide. Tentative Measurement Researches on Fiber Loop Ring-Down Cavity Coated with Carbon Nanotubes Short linear-cavity Q-switched fiber laser with a compact short carbon nanotube based saturable absorber Short linear-cavity Q-switched fiber laser with a compact short carbon nanotube based saturable absorber Nanotube Q-switched low-threshold linear cavity tunable erbium-doped fiber laser Tunable Passively -switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser With Carbon Nanotubes as a Saturable Absorber Optical Deposition of Carbon Nanotube for Fiber-based Device Fabrication Timing-jitter reduction of passively mode-locked fiber laser with a carbon nanotube saturable absorber by optimization of cavity loss Diode-pumped Nd:BaY2F8 picosecond laser mode-locked with carbon nanotube saturable absorbers Mode locking of a Cr:YAG laser with carbon nanotubes. Concentration effect of carbon nanotube based saturable absorber on stabilizing and shortening mode-locked pulse Carbon nanotubes facilitate easy fabrication of mode-locked fiber lasers Phase-stabilized 167 MHz Repetition Frequency Carbon Nanotube Fiber Laser Frequency Comb Deposition of carbon nanotubes around microfiber via evanascent light Nanosecond-pulse fiber lasers mode-locked with nanotubes Passively modelocked fiber laser using carbon nanotubes New Nanotube Coating Enables Novel Laser Power Meter New Nanotube Coating Enables Novel Laser Power Meter Encapsulation of fresh silicon nanocrystals in carbon nanotube cavity Fabrication of Carbon nanotubepoly-methylmethacrylate composites for nonlinear photonic

2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2008 2008

devices High-Repetition-Frequency Low-Noise Fiber Ring Lasers Mode-Locked With Carbon Nanotubes Femtosecond Dynamics in Single Wall Carbon Nanotube/Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Composites Nanocrystalline silicon and carbon nanotube nanocomposites prepared by pulsed laser fragmentation Dynamics of high-power self-similar light pulses in a fiber laser with a carbon-nanotube saturable absorber Wideband-tuneable, nanotube mode-locked, fibre laser Mode-locked 1.93 mum thulium fiber laser with a carbon nanotube absorber. Mode-locked 1.93_m thulium fiber laser with a carbon nanotube absorber Observation of Harmonics in a Uni-Directional Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Incorporating a Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorber A Tester for Carbon Nanotube Mode Lockers Novel cost effective carbon nanotubes deposition technique using optical tweezer effect Mode-locked and single-longitudinal-mode waveguide lasers fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses in Er:Yb-doped phosphate glass Carbon nanotubepolymer composites for photonic devices Passively mode-locked short-cavity 10HGHz Er: Yb-codoped phosphate-fiber laser using carbon nanotubes Passively mode-locked short-cavity 10GHz Er:Yb-codoped phosphate-fiber laser using carbon nanotubes carbon nanotubes mode-lock a laser-written waveguide laser Passively mode-locked short-cavity 10GHz Er:Yb-codoped phosphate-fiber laser using carbon nanotubes Ultrashort-cavity passively mode-locked fiber lasers using carbon nanotubes Sub-200-fs pulsed erbium-doped fiber laser using a carbon nanotube-polyvinylalcohol mode locker Passive mode locking by carbon nanotubes in a femtosecond laser written waveguide laser Mode Locked Soliton Lasers A TUNABLE CARBON NANOTUBE RESONATOR Ultrashort-Cavity Passively Mode-Locked Fiber Lasers Using Carbon Nanotubes Nanotube resonators break gigahertz barrier Passive mode locking by carbon nanotubes in a femtosecond laser written waveguide laser

2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007

2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006

Laser fiber and cavity related publications which use graphene as a Saturable Absorber
No Title Graphene Q-switched, tunable fiber laser Graphene-based, 50 nm wide-band tunable passively Q-switched fiber laser Graphene-Assisted Multiwavelength Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser Optimizing and Applying Graphene as a Saturable Absorber Graphene-Induced Nonlinear Four-Wave-Mixing and Its Application to Multiwavelength QSwitched Rare-Earth-Doped Fiber Lasers Fiber Fabry-Pérot Laser Mode-Locked by Graphene for the Generation of Supercontinuum with 10GHz Mode Spacing Ultrafast Lasers Mode-Locked by Graphene and Nanotubes Passively mode-locked fiber laser based on a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with fewlayered graphene oxide solution Self-Assembled Graphene Membrane as an Ultrafast Mode-Locker in an Erbium Fiber Laser Ultrafast carrier dynamics and saturable absorption of solutionprocessable few-layered graphene oxide Deformation-immunized optical deposition of graphene for ultrafast pulsed lasers Passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with sandwich structured wallpaper Year of publicatio 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

graphene oxide absorber Passive Q-Switching with Graphene Saturable Absorber in Nd:YAG Operating at 1064nm MODE-LOCKER COMPRISING A GRAPHENE, AND PULSE LASER DEVICE COMPRISING THE SAME Graphene on SiC as a Q-Switcher for 2 m laser Switchable and tunable multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser using graphene-polymer nanocomposite and asymmetric two-stage fiber Sagnac loop filter A highly efficient graphene oxide absorber for Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 lasers High power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser using graphene oxide as a saturable absorber Graphene-based passively Q-switched dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser. Terahertz lasers based on optically pumped multiple graphene structures with slot-line and dielectric waveguides Graphene Mode-Locked Ultrafast Laser Graphene makes ultrafast laser Graphene mode locked, wavelength-tunable, dissipative soliton fiber laser ULTRA-SHORT OPTICAL PULSE GENERATION WITH SINGLE-LAYER GRAPHENE Compact graphene mode-locked wavelength-tunable erbium-doped fiber lasers: from all anomalous dispersion to all normal dispersion Graphene photonics and optoelectronics Sub 200 fs pulse generation from a graphene mode-locked fiber laser Vector Dissipative Solitons in Graphene Mode Locked Fiber Lasers Monolayer Graphene as a Saturable Absorber in a Mode-Locked Laser Optical deposition of graphene and carbon nanotubes in a fiber ferrule for passive mode locked lasing Graphene: Mode-locked lasers Terahertz Laser with Optically Pumped Graphene Layers and FabriPerot Resonator First success in stimulated emission of terahertz radiation from graphene a new material Atomic-Layer Graphene as a Saturable Absorber for Ultrafast Pulsed Lasers

2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010

2009 2009 2009 2009