We review the optical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene and describe how those properties have been used for the implementation of various nonlinear fiber optic applications. Early studies on the optical properties of CNTs in the late 90s revealed that these materials exhibit high third order susceptibility and a broadband saturable absorption with a sub-picosecond response time. Recent discovery of similar nonlinear optical properties in graphene attracts much attention in this field. Such ultrafast, highly nonlinear optical response means that they can be employed for noise suppression and for the mode-locking of fiber lasers, and in addition, their high third order nonlinearity holds great promise for the implementation of various other nonlinear fiber optic devices such as wavelength converters based on four wave mixing. In this paper, we will discuss the various methods that have been considered thus far for the integration of CNTs and graphene in optical systems and highlight the advantages and limitations of using the saturable absorption of CNTs and graphene for the passive mode-locking of fiber lasers, and the current status of CNT and graphene saturable absorbers in the state of art fiber laser technologies.

Date Published: 12 September 2014
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9162, Active Photonic Materials VI, 91620X (12 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2061554

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9162:
Active Photonic Materials VI
Ganapathi S. Subramania; Stavroula Foteinopoulou, Editor(s)