Abstract

Since the first report of graphene-based ultrafast erbium-doped fiber laser in 2009 [1], most of follow-up studies have been concentrated on performance optimization and improvement of graphene saturable absorber mode-locked or Q-switched lasers at 1.5μm wavelength-band. By contrast, fewer studies have been reported on other wavelengths although graphene based saturable absorber has a distinguished advantage : a broad wavelength-independent saturable absorption range, which covers the wavelength from visible to mid-IR. More recently, a study on graphene mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser at 1.07μm has been reported [2]; the average output power was about 0.37mW at repetition frequency of 0.9MHz, corresponding to single pulse energy of 0.41nJ. Here, we report much higher pulse energy generation at 1.07μm from an Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser mode-locked by a graphene-deposited broadband reflective mirror in a ring cavity. The average output power is 170mW and the repetition rate is 1.04MHz, corresponding to single pulse energy of 163nJ.

© 2011 Optical Society of America