Passively mode-locked fiber laser based on a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with few-layered graphene oxide solution

We demonstrate a nanosecond-pulse erbium-doped fiber laser that is passively mode locked by a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with few-layered graphene oxide solution. Owing to the good solution processing capability of few-layered graphene oxide, which can be filled into the core of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber through a selective hole filling process, a graphene saturable absorber can be successfully fabricated. The output pulses obtained have a center wavelength, pulse width, and repetition rate of 1561.2nm, 4.85 ns, and 7.68 MHz, respectively. This method provides a simple and efficient approach to integrate the graphene into the optical fiber system. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America