Deformation-immunized optical deposition of graphene for ultrafast pulsed lasers

We demonstrate deformation-suppressed optical deposition of graphene onto an optical fiber by forming a graphene/polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) composite for ultrafast nonlinear photonics. With pure graphene, its nonlinear operation threshold is elevated by the optical deposition that cannot guarantee the intact two-dimensional nanoshape of graphene. The role of PVAc that provides immunity to graphene against deleterious degradation of morphology and optical nonlinearity is elucidated via electron microscope analysis, Raman characterization, and realizing passive mode-locking operation of fiber lasers. Resultant center wavelength, spectral width, and repetition rate of the laser pulses are 1572.6 nm, 0.6 nm, and 91.5 MHz, respectively. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3536502]