Graphene oxide-COOH as a new saturable absorber for
both Q-switching and mode-locking fiber lasers
Fengyan Zhao (赵凤艳)
1,2
, Yishan Wang (王屹山)
1,
*, Yonggang Wang (王勇刚)
3
,
Hushan Wang (王虎山)
1,2
, and Yajun Cai (蔡亚君)
1,2
1
State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710119, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3
School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
*Corresponding author: yshwang@opt.ac.cn
Received April 16, 2017; accepted June 6, 2017; posted online July 6, 2017
Graphene oxide carboxylic acid (COOH), a novel two-dimensional (2D) layered material with its unique optical
and electronic properties, is discovered to exhibit the saturation of optical absorption under laser illumination.
Applying the liquid-phase exfoliation method, we prepare graphene oxide-COOH dispersions with deionized
water and fabricate graphene oxide-COOH polyvinyl alcohol polymer composite film. We further obtain stable
Q-switching pulse and mode-locked laser operation with a 22.7 MHz repetition rate and a 1.5 ps pulse duration
by incorporating the graphene oxide-COOH-based saturable absorbers into the all-fiber erbium-doped fiber laser
cavity. The experimental results show that the proposed graphene oxide-COOH material can act as an effective
absorber for pulsed fiber lasers, which demonstrate potential applications in the area of ultrafast optics.
OCIS codes: 140.4050, 140.3510, 140.3540, 160.4330.
doi: 10.3788/COL201715.101402.
Pulse laser sources have widespread applications, from
basic research to telecommunications, material process-
ing, sensing, medicine, frequency comb, and so on
[1]
.In
order to achieve a pulse from picoseconds to femtosecond
optical pulse, Q-switching and passively mode-locking
based on saturable absorber (SA) are the widely used
effective methods. As for the generation of the passively
Q-switched and mode-locking pulses, it is very important
to choose the SAs
[2–5]
. Therefore, ideal SAs with low
saturation intensity, ultrafast recovery time, broadband
operation bandwidth, and high damage threshold are
the key topics in optics and photonics. Research on
graphene opened up a door to two-dimensional (2D)
nanomaterials, which possess a typical layered structure,
where there exist a strong covalent bond in layers and a
weak van der Waals interaction between layers
[6]
.Upto
now, researchers have studied and developed graphene-
like analogues of layered materials, such as carbon
nanotubes (CNTs)
[7]
, topological isolators (TIs)
[8]
, molyb-
denum disulfide (MoS
2
)
[9–13]
, tungsten disulfide (WS
2
)
[14,15]
,
and so on. Graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides
(TMDs) have been widely used as effective SAs in
Q-switching, mode-locking fibers, and solid lasers due to
inherent features of broad response and high flexibility.
Unlike graphene 2D materials, layered semiconducting
TMDs are direct band gap, which decreases with an in-
creasing number of layers. Most recently, layered TMDs
have been successfully synthesized and also been demon-
strated for SAs. However, this kind of TMDs is limited,
operating at the near-infrared (IR) and mid-IR range,
due to their large bandgap near or in the visible region.
Although introducing some suitable defects in the TMDs
could be applied as SAs in the IR and mid-IR region,
the preparation process might become sophisticated.
Graphene-based SAs have the advantages of ultrafast re-
covery time and broadband saturable sorption; however,
the disadvantage of graphene is that it is insoluble in
water. Though graphene is insoluble in water, it is also
easily made into a graphene SA, realizing Q-switching
and mode-locking pulse operation in all fiber lasers using
this kind of SAs
[16–20]
. But, it is more complicated to
fabricate graphene film than material, which has higher
solubility in water. Therefore, deriving from the intensive
research enthusiasm of graphene, there are a lot of deriv-
atives of graphene, such as graphene oxide
[21–25]
, N-doped
graphene, etc., which are applied to obtain Q-switching
and mode-locking pulse in fiber and solid lasers due to
it possessing of solubility
[26]
.
Currently, another rising 2D material, graphene oxide
carboxylic acid (COOH), has attracted attention of re-
searchers. Graphene oxide-COOH not only has the similar
optical properties and structu res of graphene and gra-
phene oxide, but it also possesses its own new character-
istics. Graphene oxide-COOH is a derivative of graphene,
which is formed by graphene oxide breaking a covalent
bond and adding a COOH group. Compared with gra-
phene oxide, graphene oxide-COOH can be more easily
dissolved in water due to its better hydrophilic nature.
Such material has higher solubility than similar materials.
Thus, it makes graphene oxide-COOH polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA) film more convenient. Based on low saturation
intensity and broadband SA, graphene oxide-COOH
could also be used to obtain Q-switching or mode-locking
operation in the IR and mid-IR region in fiber lasers.
COL 15(10), 101402(2017) CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS October 10, 2017
1671-7694/2017/101402(5) 101402-1 © 2017 Chinese Optics Letters