Carbon nanotube based devices for optical communication applications

• Main Author: Lin, Lin.
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Optics, optoelectronics, photonics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45310
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Nowadays, optical communication and industry systems expect ultra-high transmission speed, which makes the ultra-short pulse generation a critical topic in research area. This project investigates the operating mechanism of optical fiber laser and fabricates the carbon nanotube-based optical devices which are implemented to facilitate the ultra-short pulse generation in the fiber lasers. By modeling the fiber laser operation theoretically, the linear and nonlinear effects and the saturable absorption process in the laser cavity are simulated. As a key functional element, saturable absorber (SA) gives essential contributions in short pulse generation. Moreover, carbon nanotubes (CNT) draw great attentions in recent years, owing to its distinctive optical properties, such as high third-order nonlinearity, ultra-fast recovery time etc. Therefore, new methods of CNT-based SA fabrication are introduced in this project.