Ultrafast saturable absorbers based on carbon nanotubes and their applications to passively mode‐locked fiber lasers

Abstract The authors propose third‐generation small and high‐speed saturable absorbers to replace semiconductor‐based saturable absorbers and optical‐fiber‐based nonlinear devices. The device is based on the carbon nanotube (CNT). This paper discusses the characteristics of CNT‐based saturable absorbers. The present status of research on passively mode‐locked fiber lasers using CNT‐based saturable absorbers is reported. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 90(2): 17– 24, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20272