Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for infrared laser systems

Ultrashort pulses of light produced by fibre lasers have enabled major advances in fields from biomedicine to micromachining. Exploiting carbon nanomaterials for their production could provide important benefits relative to conventional semiconductor-based systems.

Carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have unique optical properties that can be optimised over a very broad spectral range dependent on the size and shape of the material. They are very promising for use in non-linear optical (NLO) devices for fibre lasers to enable generation of ultrashort pulses in the infrared (IR) optical range. The IR range provides a window on to molecular composition useful in environmental or biomedical sensing applications and it is also important in telecommunications.

Further details: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for infrared laser systems