Laser-pulse-duration and spectral dependence of saturable absorption in graphene

Abstract

Predicted by fundamental theory to exhibit a broadband ultrafast saturable absorption, graphene has been demonstrated as a practical saturable absorber for mode-locking technology. Here, we report our investigation on the saturable absorption of graphene in the nanosecond and femtosecond regime. It is found that the saturation intensity of graphene is sensitive to the pulse duration and can be explained by a photodynamic model. In addition, the spectral dependence of saturation intensity in graphene is also presented. © 2011 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).