GRAPHENE BASED SOLITON MODE-LOCKED ERBIUM DOPED FIBER LASER FOR SUPERCONTINUUM GENERATION

In this paper, we demonstrate a highly stable Soliton mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on graphene saturable absorber (SA). Graphene nanopowder is first converted into solution and then mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to form a thin film. The fabricated thin film has a modulation depth and saturation intensity of 6.1 %, and 21 MW/cm(2), respectively. The proposed soliton mode locked operate with a central wavelength of 1562 nm and 3-dB bandwidth of 1.46 nm. Its repetition rate and pulse width are 1.85 MHz and 2.24 ps, respectively. At the maximum output power of 1.6 mW, the pulse energy and peak power are approximately 0.86 nJ and 363 W, respectively. The same generated mode locked pulse is observed after being sent into a 10 km single mode fiber (SMF) which conform its high stability that is required for optical communication application. Supercontinuum light is also generated using the proposed soliton mode locked with a range starting from 1300 nm to 1700 nm. The proposed supercontinuum laser can be seen as a promising frequency comb source for frequency metrology applications.