Revealing the nature of morphological changes in carbon nanotube-polymer saturable absorber under high-power laser irradiation

Chernysheva, Maria; Al Alraimi, Mohammed; Rance, Graham A.; Weston, Nicola J.; Shi, Baogui; Saied, Sayah; Sullivan, John L.; Marsh, Nicholas; Rozhin, Aleksey

Abstract

Composites of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and water-soluble polymers (WSP) are the focus of significant worldwide research due to a number of applications in biotechnology and photonics, particularly for ultrashort pulse generation. Despite the unique possibility of constructing non-linear optical SWNT-WSP composites with controlled optical properties, their thermal degradation threshold and limit of operational power remain unexplored. In this study, we discover the nature of the SWNT-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film thermal degradation and evaluate the modification of the composite properties under continuous high-power ultrashort pulse laser operation. Using high-precision optical microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, we have examined SWNT-PVA films before and after continuous laser radiation exposure (up to 40 hours) with a maximum optical fluence of 2.3 mJ x cm2. We demonstrate that high-intensity laser radiation results in measurable changes in the composition and morphology of the SWNT-PVA film due to efficient heat transfer from SWNTs to the polymer matrix. The saturable absorber modification does not affect the laser operational performance. We anticipate our work to be a starting point for more sophisticated research aimed at the enhancement of SWNT-PVA films fabrication for their operation as reliable saturable absorbers in high-power ultrafast lasers.

Citation

Chernysheva, M., Al Alraimi, M., Rance, G. A., Weston, N. J., Shi, B., Saied, S., Sullivan, J. L., Marsh, N., & Rozhin, A. (2018). Revealing the nature of morphological changes in carbon nanotube-polymer saturable absorber under high-power laser irradiation. Scientific Reports, 8, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24734-z

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 20, 2018
• Publication Date: May 10, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2018
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24734-z
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/931483
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24734-z
• Contract Date: Jul 3, 2018