Passive mode-locking of a Tm-doped bulk laser near 2 μm using a carbon nanotube saturable absorber

• DOI: 10.1364/oe.17.011007
• Publication Date: 2009-06-17T14:56:51Z
• Authors: Won Bae Cho; Andreas Schmidt; Jong Hyuk Yim; Sun Young Choi; Soonil Lee; Fabian Rotermund; Uwe Griebner; Günter Steinmeyer; Valentin Petrov; Xavier Mateos; Maria C. Pujol; Joan J. Carvajal; Magdalena Aguiló; Francesc Díaz
• Keywords: Saturable absorption; Mode-Locking

Stable and self-starting mode-locking of a Tm:KLu(WO(4))(2) crystal laser is demonstrated using transmission-type single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based saturable absorber (SA). These experiments in the 2 microm regime utilize E11 transition SWCNTs for nonlinear absorption. The recovery time SWCNT-SA measured by pump-probe measurements as approximately 1.2 ps. mode-locked delivers 10 ps pulses near 1.95 with maximum output power up to 240 mW at 126 MHz repetition rate.