Performance peculiarities of carbon-nanotube-based thin-film saturable absorbers for erbium fiber laser mode-locking

We have studied the saturation behavior of single-walled carbon-nanotube-based saturable absorbers (SWCNT-SAs) at different temperatures and SWCNT concentrations in the polymer matrix and tried to relate it to the mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser performance. It has been observed that a modulation depth of SWCNT-SA transmission which we relate to the ground state recovery time monotonically decreases upon temperature growth. Comparing laser performance with different SWCNT-SAs, we suppose that the defects in the CNT lattice promote recovery acceleration resulting in shorter pulse generation as obtained for boron-nitride-doped SWCNTs. Moreover, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we have observed and studied the long-term relaxation of SWCNT-SA saturated transmission exhibiting temperature-dependent behavior.