Efficient Mode-Locking of Sub-70-fs Ti:Sapphire Laser by Graphene Saturable Absorber

The efficient passive mode-locking of a Ti:sapphire laser with a monolayer graphene saturable absorber is demonstrated for the first time. High-quality and large-area (1 in.) monolayer graphene, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition, exhibits ultrafast recovery times and excellent nonlinear absorption behavior for bulk solid-state laser mode-locking near 800 nm. The continuous-wave mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser generates 63-fs pulses with output powers up to 480 mW under stable operation at 99.4 MHz.