Saturable absorbers incorporating carbon nanotubes directly synthesized onto substrates and fibers and their application to mode-locked fiber lasers.

We present novel carbon-nanotube-based saturable absorbers. Using the low-temperature alcohol catalytic chemical-vapor deposition method, high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were directly synthesized on quartz substrates and fiber ends. We successfully applied the SWNTs to mode lock a fiber laser producing subpicosecond pulses at a 50-MHz repetition rate.