Suppression of continuous lasing in a carbon nanotube polyimide film mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser

We demonstrated an erbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser using a single-walled carbon nanotube-dispersed polyimide (SWNT-PI) film. Different mode-locking operations were compared and analyzed utilizing SWNT-PI films with different concentrations (2, 1, and 0.25 wt.%, respectively). It was found that the continuous single-pulse mode-locking operation was often accompanied by a continuous wave oscillation part for the 1 and 0.25 wt.% SWNT-PI films, whereas the 2 wt.% SWNT-PI film presented the most excellent mode-locking performance, thanks to sufficient modulation depth. Using the 2 wt.% SWNT-PI film, a stable pulse train with a pulse width of 840 fs and a repetition rate of 15.3 MHz was achieved. The average output power was 0.33 mW at the pump power of 155 mW under an output coupling ratio of 10%. Operational performance of the laser cavity when employing the 2 wt.% SWNT-PI film was also demonstrated.