Inkjet-printing of graphene saturable absorbers for ~2 μm bulk and waveguide lasers

Identifier:  imarina:3996272

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina3996272

Authors:  Loiko, P; Serres, JM; Delekta, SS; Kifle, E; Boguslawski, J; Kowalczyk, M; Sotor, J; Aguiló, M; Díaz, F; Griebner, U; Petrov, V; Popov, S; Li, JT; Mateos, X; Östling, M

Abstract:
© 2018 Optical Society of America. A technique for inkjet-printing of graphene saturable absorbers (SAs) for ~2-μm bulk and waveguide lasers is presented. Based on distillation-assisted solvent exchange to fabricate high-concentration graphene inks, this technique is capable of producing few-layer graphene films of arbitrary shape. Absorption saturation of graphene printed on glass is demonstrated at ~1.56 μm for picosecond and femtosecond pulses indicating a large fraction of the saturable losses. Inkjet-printed transmission-type graphene SAs are applied in passively Q-switched nanosecond thulium (Tm) microchip and planar waveguide lasers. The Tm microchip laser generates 136 ns / 1.2 μJ pulses at 1917 nm with a repetition rate of 0.37 MHz with a Q-switching conversion efficiency reaching 65%. The planar waveguide laser generates 98 ns / 21 nJ pulses at 1834 nm at a repetition rate in the MHz-range. The inkjetprinting technique is promising for production of patterned SAs for waveguide lasers.