Nanophotonics (Jul 2023)

Broadband synchronization of ultrafast pulse generation with double-walled carbon nanotubes

  • Zheng Jiancheng,
  • Li Diao,
  • Liu Peng,
  • Cui Xiaoqi,
  • Zhang Bin,
  • Geng Wei,
  • Zhang Qiang,
  • Xu Zhenyu,
  • Kauppinen Esko I.,
  • Sun Zhipei

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2023-0192
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 17
pp. 3397 – 3407

Abstract

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Double-walled carbon nanotubes have shown competitive properties in broadband optical pulse generation owning to the intrinsic electronic properties. Synchronization of ultrafast optical pulses in multiple wavelengths is a key technique for numerous applications, such as nonlinear frequency conversion, ultrafast pump-probe, coherent Raman scattering spectroscopy, coherent optical synthesis, etc. In this work, we demonstrate the mode-locking and synchronization of 1.55 µm pulses with 1 µm and 1.9 µm pulses via a single saturable absorber based on double-walled carbon nanotubes. The large optical nonlinearity and broadband optical absorption in the double-walled carbon nanotubes enable independent and synchronized mode-locking in >900 nm bandwidth. In addition, we present a creative concept to realize multi-wavelength synchronization from a single laser system. Our results demonstrate a straightforward and feasible approach towards pulse synchronization over ultra-broad bandwidth with flexible wavelength selection in the near-infrared region.

Keywords