1.5 GHz picosecond pulse generation from a monolithic waveguide laser with a graphene-film saturable output coupler

We fabricate a saturable absorber mirror by coating a graphene-film on an output coupler mirror. This is then used to obtain Q-switched mode-locking from a diode-pumped linear cavity channel waveguide laser inscribed in Ytterbium-doped Bismuthate Glass. The laser produces 1.06 ps pulses at similar to 1039 nm, with a 1.5 GHz repetition rate, 48% slope efficiency and 202 mW average output power. This performance is due to the combination of the graphene saturable absorber and the high quality optical waveguides in the laser glass. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America