CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 UnportedMa, J.Xie, G.Lv, P.Gao, W.Yuan, P.Qian, L.Griebner, U.Petrov, V.Yu, H.Zhang, H.Wang, J.2020-11-202020-11-202014https://doi.org/10.34657/4597https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/5968An ultra-broadband graphene-gold film saturable absorber mirror (GG-SAM) with a spectral coverage exceeding 1300 nm is experimentally demonstrated for mode-locking of bulk solid-state lasers. Owing to the p-type doping effect caused by graphene-gold film interaction, the graphene on gold-film substrate shows a remarkably lower light absorption relative to pristine graphene, which is very helpful to achieve continuous-wave mode-locking in low-gain bulk lasers. Using the GG-SAM sample, stable mode-locking is realized in a Yb:YCOB bulk laser near 1 μm, a Tm:CLNGG bulk laser near 2 μm and a Cr:ZnSe bulk laser near 2.4 μm. The saturable absorption is characterised at an intermediate wavelength of 1.56 μm by pump-probe measurements. The as-fabricated GG-SAM with ultra-broad bandwidth, ultrafast recovery time, low absorption, and low cost has great potential as a universal saturable absorber mirror for mode-locking of various bulk lasers with unprecedented spectral coverage.enghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/620GG-SAMbulk solid-state lasergraphene-gold film interactionArticle