Humidity Resistant Carbon Nanotubes-Styrene Methyl-Methacrylate Polymer Composite for Ultrafast Laser

Yunliang Bao, Lilong Dai, Junjie Jiang, Zinan Huang, Qianqian Huang, Aleksey Rozhin, Chengbo Mou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT)–polymer composite films are key elements in widespread photonic and optoelectronic applications. One particular successful application is to produce ultrashort optical pulses in the laser cavity. Nevertheless, such composite film may suffer from severe humidity/water degradation, from which the laser may even stop generating regular pulses. Here, surfactant-free CNT–styrene methyl-methacrylate polymer composite film is fabricated. Based on such film-type saturable absorber, a self-starting passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser with the capability of generating ≈1 ps pulses is demonstrated. From the perspective of experimental measurements and numerical simulations, the effectiveness of a saturable absorber in generating ultrashort pulses is confirmed. The operating composite film can survive under fully immersed water condition for 30 days. More importantly, after the non-operating composite film has been fully soaked in the water tank for 2 days, it can still mode-lock the laser as it is in dry air condition, confirming the humidity resistance capability. In addition, it is experimentally found that the mechanical packaging of the composite film has an impact on the survival time of composite film under water immersion.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2200461
JournalAdvanced Optical Materials
Volume10
Issue number18
Early online date30 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: 'Bao, Y., Dai, L., Jiang, J., Huang, Z., Huang, Q., Rozhin, A., Mou, C., Humidity Resistant Carbon Nanotubes-Styrene Methyl-Methacrylate Polymer Composite for Ultrafast Laser. Adv. Optical Mater. 2022, 2200461,' which has been published in final form at: https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202200461. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62135007, 61975107, 61605107); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFB1805803); Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (D20031); Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (20ZR1471500).

Keywords

  • carbon nanotubes
  • mode locking
  • polymer composites
  • saturable absorbers
  • ultrafast fiber lasers

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