Optimizing Single‐Walled‐Carbon‐Nanotube‐Based Saturable Absorbers for Ultrafast Lasers |
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Authors: | Stefania Ferrari Marcella Bini Doretta Capsoni Pietro Galinetto Marco Simone Grandi Uwe Griebner Günter Steinmeyer Antoniangelo Agnesi Federico Pirzio Elena Ugolotti Giancarlo Reali Vincenzo Massarotti |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia, Via Taramelli 16, 27100 Pavia;2. Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi, 27100 Pavia;3. Max‐Born‐Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy, 2A‐Max‐Borrn Str., 12489 Berlin, Germany;4. Department of Electronics, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia |
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Abstract: | The application of single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as saturable absorbers (SA) in a Nd:glass femtosecond laser is verified as a promising alternative to traditional semiconductor saturable‐absorber mirrors (SESAMs). The shortest laser pulses achieved with a SWCNT‐SA fabricated by the slow‐evaporation method are reported herein. Nearly Fourier‐limited 288 fs pulses are obtained with negative‐dispersion soliton mode‐locking. The importance of the properties of the starting material, such as the degree of purity and the chirality, and the successive slow‐evaporation deposition method is proven by using a multitechnique approach based on X‐ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and μ‐Raman spectroscopy. The high degree of nanotube alignment on the glass substrate and also the slight metallic character due to electron transfer between the glass matrix and the nanotubes themselves are identified as the main features responsible for the good laser response. |
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Keywords: | single‐walled carbon nanotubes μ ‐Raman spectroscopy femtosecond lasers saturable absorbers |
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