Optically tunable monolayer graphene saturable absorber for the control of pulsed fiber laser operation

Abstract

We propose a tunable in-line saturable absorber through the optical control of monolayer graphene sheet transferred onto the side-polished fiber. The nonlinear saturable absorption property of graphene saturable absorber significantly changes with applied optical power, resulting in various pulsed laser operations from continuous wave passive mode-locking to Q-switching in an Er-doped all-fiber laser.