Graphene as an inhomogeneously broadened two-level saturable absorber

Abstract

We show that the inter-band optical conductivity of graphene follows a dependence on intensity that is characteristic of inhomogeneously broadened saturable absorbers, and we obtain a simple formula for the saturation intensity. We compare our results with those from more exact numerical calculations and selected sets of experimental data, and obtain good agreement for photon energies much larger than twice the chemical potential.