Highlights of 2015

In this letter, we report random laser action in a system where optical amplification is provided by colloidal CdSe quantum dots (CQDs) triggered by the emission from Rhodamine 6G. The laser emission from CdSe QDs is optically excited by Rh-6G which in turn is photo-pumped by a frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd : YAG laser system at an excitation wavelength of 532 nm. At intensities greater than the threshold value, laser emission is characterized by narrowing peaks.

We report for the first time to the best of our knowledge on the ultra-short pulse (USP) generation in the dispersion-managed erbium-doped all-fiber ring laser hybridly mode-locked with boron nitride-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes in the co-action with a nonlinear polarization evolution in the ring cavity with a distributed polarizer. Stable 92.6 fs dechirped pulses were obtained via precise polarization state adjustment at a central wavelength of 1560 nm with 11.2 mW average output power, corresponding to the 2.9 kW maximum peak power. We have also observed the laser switching from a USP generation regime to a chirped pulse one with a corresponding pulse-width of 7.1 ps at the same intracavity dispersion.

Excited state absorption (ESA) is a process that occurs in many laser gain media and can significantly impact their efficiencies of operation. In this work we develop a model to quantify the effect of ESA at the pump wavelength on laser efficiency, threshold and heating. In an analysis based on the common end pumped laser geometry we derive solutions and analytical expressions that model the laser behaviour. From these solutions we discuss the main parameters affecting efficiency, such as the laser cavity loss, pump ESA cross section and stimulated emission cross section. Methodologies are described to minimise the impact of pump ESA, for example by minimising cavity loss. It is also shown that altering the pumping geometry can significantly improve performance by improved distribution of the population inversion. Double end pumping can approximately halve the effect of pump ESA compared to single end pumping, and side pumping also has the potential to arbitrarily reduce its effect.

Liquid-phase exfoliated 2D material multilayer MoS₂ is transferred onto a gold mirror and its saturable absorption at the 2 µm wavelength region is experimentally observed. This transferred MoS₂ saturable absorber has a modulation depth of 13.6% and a saturation intensity of 23.1 MW cm⁻². This saturable absorber is integrated into a linear Tm³⁺ fiber laser cavity, and stable fundamental-frequency mode-locking operation is realized at 2 µm with pulse energy of 15.5 nJ, pulse width of ~843 ps, and a repetition rate of 9.67 MHz. The laser spectral width is ~17.3 nm with a center wavelength of 1905 nm. This first presence of mode-locking with multilayer MoS₂ sheets in the 2 µm wavelength region verifies that multilayer MoS₂ is a good candidate for broadband mode-locking comparable to graphene, as well as a good mode-locker for achieving high pulse energy.

We demonstrate amplification experiments using a very large mode area Yb-doped double-clad fiber with 100 µm aluminum-cer codoped core and 440 µm pump cladding realized by high aluminum codoping. The material for core and pump cladding was fabricated by reactive powder sinter technology. A high numerical aperture (NA) of the pump cladding with NA = 0.21 and a low one of the core with NA = 0.084 could be realized. Using a 0.55 m short fiber sample as the main amplifier in a three-stage ns pulsed fiber master oscillator power amplifier system we achieved 3 ns, 2 mJ output pulses with 360 kW peak power limited by the available pump power. Stimulated Raman scattering effects and amplified spontaneous emission were successfully suppressed.

We demonstrated a passively mode-locked fiber laser operating at 1982 nm by using a gold nanorods (GNRs) saturable absorber (SA). The GNRs SA was fabricated by mixing GNRs with sodium carbonxymethyl cellulose. By inserting the GNRs SA into a Tm-doped fiber laser cavity pumped by a 1570 nm fiber laser, stable passively mode-locking was achieved with a threshold pump power of 224 mW, ~4.02 ps pulses at 1982 nm with a repetition rate of ~37.49 MHz, and a maximum average power of ~6 mW was obtained for a pump power of ~265 mW.

We present an efficient strategy for sharing multipartite polarization entanglement between distant locations via the noisy channel assisted by the time-bin degree of freedom. We demonstrate an entanglement purification protocol for the three-qubit Greenberge–Horne–Zeilinger state and an entanglement distribution protocol for the three-qubit W state. We also generalize the protocol to distribute arbitrary N-photon polarization states to N distant locations. Our schemes do not consume a large number of less-entangled systems and the remote parties can share the desired state in a deterministic way with 100% fidelity in principle. These advantages make our method useful and practical in long-distance quantum communication.

The concept of entanglement was originally introduced to explain correlations existing between two spatially separated systems, that cannot be described using classical ideas. Interestingly, in recent years, it has been shown that similar correlations can be observed when considering different degrees of freedom of a single system, even a classical one. Surprisingly, it has also been suggested that entanglement might be playing a relevant role in certain biological processes, such as the functioning of pigment-proteins that constitute light-harvesting complexes of photosynthetic bacteria. The aim of this work is to show that the presence of entanglement in all of these different scenarios should not be unexpected, once it is realized that the very same mathematical structure can describe all of them. We show this by considering three different, realistic cases in which the only condition for entanglement to exist is that a single excitation is coherently delocalized between the different subsystems that compose the system of interest.

Here we investigate the mechanically induced transparency in a hybrid system which consists of a nanomechanical oscillator and metal nanoparticles. In this system, the effective coupling is provided by the Coulomb interaction between the charged oscillator and nanoparticles in the hybrid system under the pumping of input light. By quantizing the plasmonic field, the Hamiltonian of the hybrid system is derived. Moreover, by solving the quantum Langevin equations, we show that the system exhibits mechanically induced transparency properties on the transmission spectrum, and the transparency window could be tuned by changing the coupling strength. We also discuss the applications of the system as a plasmonic switch.

In this work we estimate the transverse Schmidt number for the bipartite high-gain parametric down conversion state by means of second-order intensity correlation function measurement. Assuming that the number of modes is equal in both beams we determine the Schmidt number considering only one of the subsystems. The obtained results demonstrate that this approach is equally efficient over the whole propagation of the state from the near field to the far field regions of its emitter.

In contrast to the case of pulses in the infrared (IR) and visible range, the temporal characterization of deep-UV femtosecond pulses in combination with their spectral features is still a challenge, essentially due to the lack of suitable nonlinear crystals for second harmonic autocorrelation. Here we report on the characterization of 260 nm, nearly 200 fs pulses, based on two photon absorption in fused silica. 260 nm pulses are obtained as the fourth harmonic component of a near-IR fundamental which is frequency up-converted into a double beta barium borate-based harmonic generator stage. By comparing the obtained pulse duration with its Fourier limit, estimated by measuring pulse spectra, a consistent pulse chirp is retrieved. This chirp is mostly attributed to the considerable group-velocity dispersion occurring in the last doubling stage which converts the green into UV radiation. Additionally, the spectral width of the probe pulse through the fused silica window turns out to be modulated as a function of the time delay between pump and probe in the two-photon absorption setup. The observed modulation is attributed to the interplay between spectrally selective absorption, due to the chirp of the pulses, and moderate self-phase modulation just occurring at the top of the temporal autocorrelation between pump and probe.

Two methods for multiple high energetic THz pulse generation by two-color filamentation in air with controllable energy ratio and delay ranging from one to hundreds of ps were investigated. In the first method the laser pulse is split into two inside the optical stretcher of a CPA laser system, the resulting consecutive filaments occur in the same region and allows the study of the influence of the first plasma filament on the THz emission of the delayed filament. Based on a polarization sensitive thin film beam splitter placed in front of a 45° mirror, the second method produces multiple parallel consecutive filaments. Above a certain total pump level the THz energy delivered by multiple pulses exceeds the value given by a single filament for the same pump energy, thereby overcoming the THz emission saturation of the single filament.

The active coherent polarization beam combining (CPBC) technique has been experimentally proved to be a promising approach for the energy and power scaling of ultrashort laser pulses, despite the tremendous challenge in temporal synchronization, dispersion management and nonlinearity control. In order to develop a comprehensive theoretical model to investigate the influence of temporal–spectral effects on ultrafast fiber active CPBC systems, a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation carrying spectral factors is used to depict the propagation of ultrashort pulses in fiber amplifier channels and ultrashort-pulsed Gaussian beams (PGBs) carrying temporal–spatial factors are utilized to picture the propagation of ultrashort pulses in the free space. To the best of our knowledge, the influence of different temporal–spectral effects has been segregated for the first time and corresponding analytical equations have been strictly derived to link the combining efficiency with specific factors. Based on our analysis, the optical path difference (OPD) has the most detrimental impact on the combining efficiency because of the high controlling accuracy and anti-interference requirements. For instance, the OPD must be controlled in ~  ±14 μm to achieve a combining efficiency of above 95% for combining ultrashort laser pulses with a 3 dB spectral bandwidth of 13 nm centered at 1064 nm. Besides, the analytical expression also demonstrates that the impact of self-phase modulation on the combining efficiency has no dependence on spectral bandwidth and only depends on the B integral difference if neglecting the direct influence of the peak power difference. Our analysis also indicates that the group velocity dispersion has relatively small influence on the combining efficiency. These formulas can be used to diagnose the influence of temporal–spectral effects and provide useful guidelines for the design or optimization of the active CPBC system of ultrafast fiber chirped-pulse amplifiers.

The nonlinear absorption responses of graphene, graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide are investigated using the Z-scan technique and laser beams at 405, 532 and 635 nm in a continuous wave regime. Results show that graphene, graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide do not show any open Z-scan signals at wavelengths of 532 and 635 nm. At the same time, fresh graphene oxide suspension is found to exhibit a nonlinear absorption process in the case of a laser light at 405 nm. Moreover, it can be observed that the reduction of graphene oxide by 405 nm laser irradiation decreases its nonlinear absorption value significantly. These findings highlight the important role of the reduction process on the nonlinear absorption performance of graphene oxide.

We emulate the general guidelines for the design of a 100-terawatt-level optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) system operating at 2.2 $\mu$m. A two-stage OPCPA system based on a $\text{LiNb}{{\text{O}}_{3}}$ crystal is numerically calculated with a split-step Fourier transform algorithm. The maximization of both conversion efficiency and bandwidth are analyzed. The tolerance of time jitter and pump intensity fluctuation are considered in the OPCPA system. The theoretical scheme based on the OPCPA present in this paper paves the way for building a 100-TW-level mid-infrared laser system.

High quality lithium borate (LBO) samples cut along (1 0 0), (0 1 0) and (0 0 1) axes were studied by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz TDS) between 0.2–3 THz. It was found that in the direction of crystallographic axis X the optical absorption coefficient is the lowest amongst all known anisotropic nonlinear crystals, and that birefringence is as large as 0.42. Dispersion equations for the entire transparency range of LBO were developed for the first time. Phase matching for down-conversion into the THz range was found to be possible. Phase matching availability, low optical loss in the transparency band, and high optical damage threshold make LBO one of the most promising nonlinear materials for THz generation.

We report enhanced three-dimensional degenerated Raman sideband cooling (3D DRSC) of caesium (Cs) atoms in a standard single-cell vapour-loaded magneto-optical trap. Our improved scheme involves using a separate repumping laser and optimized lattice detuning. We load 1.5 × 10⁷ atoms into the Raman lattice with a detuning of −15.5 GHz (to the ground F = 3 state). Enhanced 3D DRSC is used to cool them from 60 µK to 1.7 µK within 12 ms and the number of obtained atoms is about 1.2 × 10⁷. A theoretical model is proposed to simulate the measured number of trapped atoms. The result shows good agreement with the experimental data. The technique paves the way for loading a large number of ultracold Cs atoms into a crossed dipole trap and efficient evaporative cooling in a single-cell system.

We study the formation of bound states and three-component bright vector solitons in a quasi-one-dimensional spin–orbit-coupled hyperfine spin f = 1 Bose–Einstein condensate using numerical solution and variational approximation of a mean-field model. In the antiferromagnetic domain, the solutions are time-reversal symmetric, and the component densities have multi-peak structure. In the ferromagnetic domain, the solutions violate time-reversal symmetry, and the component densities have single-peak structure. The dynamics of the system are not Galelian invariant. From an analysis of Galelian invariance, we establish that the single-peak ferromagnetic vector solitons are true solitons and can move maintaining constant component densities, whereas the antiferromagnetic solitons cannot move with constant component densities.

Metastasis is responsible for 90% of all cancer-related deaths in humans. As a result, reliable techniques for detecting metastatic cells are urgently required. Although various techniques have been proposed for metastasis detection, they are generally capable of detecting metastatic cells only once migration has already occurred. Accordingly, the present study proposes an optical method for physical characterization of metastatic cancer cells using a scanned laser pico-projection system (SLPP). The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated using five pairs of cancer cell lines and two pairs of non-cancer cell lines treated by IPTG induction in order to mimic normal cells with an overexpression of oncogene. The results show that for all of the considered cell lines, the SLPP speckle contrast of the high-metastatic cells is significantly higher than that of the low-metastatic cells. As a result, the speckle contrast measurement provides a reliable means of distinguishing quantitatively between low- and high-metastatic cells of the same origin. Compared to existing metastasis detection methods, the proposed SLPP approach has many advantages, including a higher throughput, a lower cost, a larger sample size and a more reliable diagnostic performance. As a result, it provides a highly promising solution for physical characterization of metastatic cancer cells in vitro.

This letter reports an efficient phase analysis-based direct time domain resampling scheme for swept source-based optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) systems. The unwrapped phase values, representing non-linear frequency sweeping of the laser, are extracted from the calibration signal generated by a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Equidistant wavenumber spaces are calculated by normalizing obtained phase values followed by scaling to the maximum number of sampling points. The non-uniform fractional time index values corresponding to the uniformly distributed phase values are computed directly from the linearizer coordinates in order to eliminate the use of the polynomial fitting approach that is used in existing phase-based time domain resampling methods. This proposed linearization scheme shows a significant improvement in performance in terms of accuracy and speed in comparison with the major existing schemes. The robustness of the algorithm, as well as its impact on the resolution and sensitivity, are illustrated using an in-house-developed SS-OCT system and by performing imaging of a human finger nail and an eye model as test samples.

The optical biopsy could be a quick and painless support or alternative to a punch biopsy. In this letter the first in vivo vertical wide field two photon microscopy (2PM) images of healthy volunteers are shown. The 2PM images are fused images of two photon excited auto fluorescence (AF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) signals given as false-color images of 200 μm  ×  7 mm in size. By using these two nonlinear effects, the epidermis can be easily distinguished from the dermis at a glance. The auto fluorescence provides cellular resolution of the epidermal cells, and elastin fibers are partly visible in the dermis. Collagen, visible by SHG signal, is the dominant structure in the dermis. As contact agent water was evaluated to increase the AF signal, especially in the deeper layers of epidermis and dermis. For further improvement any terminal hairs should be removed by shaving and by taking tape strips of the first five layers of the stratum corneum. The first images illustrated that young skin compared to aged skin shows remarkably different dermal elastin and collagen signals in the dermis.

We applied confocal Raman spectroscopy to investigate 12 normal bladder tissues and 30 tumor tissues, and then depicted the spectral differences between the normal and the tumor tissues and the potential canceration mechanism with the aid of the high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique. Normal tissues were demonstrated to contain higher tryptophan, cholesterol and lipid content, while bladder tumor tissues were rich in nucleic acids, collagen and carotenoids. In particular, β-carotene, one of the major types of carotenoids, was found through HPLC analysis of the extract of bladder tissues. The statistical software SPSS was applied to classify the spectra of the two types of tissues according to their differences. The sensitivity and specificity of 96.7 and 66.7% were obtained, respectively. In addition, different layers of the bladder wall including mucosa (lumps), muscle and adipose bladder tissue were analyzed by Raman mapping technique in response to previous Raman studies of bladder tissues. All of these will play an important role as a directive tool for the future diagnosis of bladder cancer in vivo.

The integral R-ICOS method of three-beam diode laser spectroscopy allows extending the dynamic range of measurements of the absorption coefficient of particles in a medium compared to the conventional ICOS (CEAS) integral absorption technique in an external optical cell. The application of the method for optically dense media is discussed.

We have demonstrated that chemically modified anticancer drugs can provide random laser (RL) when infiltrated in a biological tissue. A fluorescent biomarker has been covalently bound to tamoxifen, which is one of the most frequently used drugs for breast cancer therapy. The light emitted by the drug-dye composite is scattered in tissue, which acts as a gain medium. Both non-coherent and coherent RL regimes have been observed. Moreover, the analysis of power Fourier transforms of coherent RL spectra indicates that the tissues show a dominant random laser cavity length of about 18 µm, similar to the average size of single cells. These results show that RL could be obtained from other drugs, if properly marked with a fluorescent tag, which could be appealing for new forms of combined opto-chemical therapies.

Alumina porous ceramic with controlled pore size distribution was produced and its potential as a random laser host is investigated. Bi-chromatic random laser was observed from rhodamine B infiltrated ceramic when excited by 532 nm pulsed laser. Two random laser regimes were characterized and associated with the excitation of monomers and dimers. The results show that this class of material is very promising for the development of low-cost solid state random lasers.

A passively Q-switched diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser with polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe as the saturable absorber is demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. By using saturable absorbers with different initial transmission, the maximum pulse energy reached 4.22 mJ with peak power of 162.3 kW for a pulse duration of 26 ns. The maximum output average power amounted to 2.2 W. These results constitute significant improvement from the highest average power, pulse energy and peak power results for the PQS Tm:YLF laser to date.

A cascade, diode-pumped, continuous wave (CW), dual-wavelength operation in a 0.5% Er³⁺:Y₂O₃ cryogenic ceramic laser is demonstrated for the first time. The laser operates on cascaded Er (⁴I_11/2  →  ⁴I_13/2  →  ⁴I_15/2) transitions and can deliver 24 and 13 W at 1.6 and 2.7 μm, respectively. The overall efficiency with respect to the absorbed ~980 nm power was 62%. This is, to our best knowledge, the first demonstration of an efficient, high power, cascade, erbium laser achieved in bulk solid-state lasers. The analysis of the output power, the laser's wavelengths and slope efficiency for each individual laser transition are presented for pure CW operation mode. Also presented are the temporal behaviors of each laser line as a function of pump pulse duration in the quasi-CW regime.

Non-linear cumulative self-organization dynamics of femtosecond laser-induced surface relief ripples was for the first time experimentally revealed on a silicon surface as their primary appearance, degradation and revival, reflecting ultrafast non-linear dynamics of corresponding optical interference surface patterns. Such dynamics were revealed by electrodynamic modeling to be directly driven by related instantaneous surface optical patterns, which are sensitive not only to cumulative ripple deepening (steady-state feedback factor), but to laser-induced instantaneous variation of surface dielectric function, providing either positive or negative fluence-dependent optical feedbacks.

The ability to produce nanoparticles free of any surface contamination is very challenging especially for bio-medical applications. Using a pulsed nanosecond Nd-YAG laser, pure selenium nanoparticles have been synthesized by irradiating selenium powder (99.999%) immerged in de-ionized water and ethanol. The wavelength of the laser beam has been varied from the UV to NIR (355, 532 and 1064 nm) and its effect on the particle size distribution has been studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), revealing then the production of selenium quantum dots (size < 4 nm) by photo-fragmentation. It has been found that the crystallinity of the nanoparticles depends on their size. The zeta-potential measurement reveals that the colloidal solutions produced in de-ionized water were stable while the ones synthesized in ethanol agglomerate. The concentration of selenium has been measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The anti-bacterial effect of selenium nanostructures has been analyzed on E. Coli bacteria. Finally, selenium quantum dots produced by this method can also be useful for quantum dot solar cells.

Ablation of silver targets immersed in double distilled water (DDW)/acetone was performed with first order, non-diffracting Bessel beams generated by focusing ultrashort Gaussian pulses (~2 and ~40 fs) through an Axicon. The fabricated Ag dispersions were characterized by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and the nanostructured Ag targets were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Ag colloids prepared with ~2 ps laser pulses at various input pulse energies of ~400, ~600, ~800 and ~1000 µJ demonstrated similar localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peaks appearing near 407 nm. Analogous behavior was observed for Ag colloids prepared in acetone and ablated with ~40 fs pulses, wherein the LSPR peak was observed near 412 nm prepared with input energies of ~600, ~800 and ~1000 µJ. Observed parallels in LSPR peaks, average size of NPs, plasmon bandwidths are tentatively explained using cavitation bubble dynamics and simultaneous generation/fragmentation of NPs under the influence of Bessel beam. Fabricated Ag nanostructures in both the cases demonstrated strong enhancement factors (>10⁶) in surface enhanced Raman scattering studies of the explosive molecule CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-Hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane) at 5 μM concentration.

A comparison of laser ablation by a train of picosecond pulses and nanosecond pulses revealed a difference in laser craters, ablation thresholds, plasma sizes and spectral line intensities. Laser ablation with a train of picosecond pulses resulted in improved crater quality while ablated mass decreased up to 30%. A reduction in laser plasma dimensions for picosecond train ablation was observed while the intensity of atomic/ionic lines in the plasma spectra was greater by a factor of 2–4 indicating an improved excitation and atomization in the plasma.

Explicit analytical expressions are derived based on a simplified model as a convenient estimation of the requirements to reach the threshold of deep-penetration laser welding. For materials with high heat conductivity and low surface tension the simple formulas allow determining the material-dependent minimum power required for deep-penetration laser welding as a function of the diameter and the travel speed of the beam on the work piece surface. Within this area of application of the model the derived formulas agree well with experimental results.

We present new studies on the effects of laser wavelengths, pulse energy ratio and interpulse delay between two laser pulses in the collinear dual pulse configuration of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) on an iron sample in air using the fundamental (1064 nm) and the second harmonics (532 nm) of Nd:YAG lasers. In the dual pulse LIBS, an optimum value of interpulse delay with an appropriate combination of laser wavelengths, and laser pulse energy ratio, yields a 30 times signal intensity enhancement in the neutral iron lines as compared with single pulse LIBS. A comparison in the spatial variations of electron temperature along the axis of the plume expansion in single and double pulse LIBS has also been studied.

Changes in surface morphology and ablation rate induced on sapphire were investigated after interaction with femtosecond laser pulses in air at variable fluence (2 to 77 J cm⁻²) and repetition rate (10 to 1000 Hz). Multiple laser pulses at a wavelength of 785 nm and pulse width of 130 fs were fired at the surface of sapphire to produce craters whose depth, size and morphology were evaluated using optical and scanning electron microscopy. Ablation rate was found to depend on laser fluence, number of laser pulses and repetition rate. A rapid increase in ablation rate with fluence was observed for fluences lower than 5.9 J cm⁻², followed by a slow increase up to fluence of 40.7 J cm⁻². A drop in ablation rate occurred at fluence greater than 40.7 J cm⁻². Craters produced at high repetition rate (1000 Hz) at fluence of 11.8 J cm⁻² were deeper than those produced at low repetition rate (10 Hz) during the first 40 to 50 pulses. The situation was reversed for craters produced by greater than 50 laser pulses. The drop in ablation rate observed at high fluence and repetition rate can be attributed to attenuation of the laser energy due to plasma and particle shielding that result from interactions with the laser-generated particles that cannot be completely removed from the ablated crater. Defocusing effects associated with the non-equilibrium ionization of air which causes a divergence to the laser beam and consequently a reduction in the laser intensity at the sample surface can be another reason for the observed drop in the ablation rate at high fluence.

Formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on the titanium surface at the presence of sharply focused fs radiation exhibits two different regimes. Conventional ablative LIPSS with low regularity are oriented orthogonally to the polarization direction of the incident beam, while thermochemical LIPSS with highly uniform periodicity are oriented along the polarization direction. These two types of LIPSS can co-exist and influence each other for arbitrary polarization and beam scanning directions. The observed regimes help to clarify mechanisms of LIPSS formation, as well as to form LIPSS of specific shapes and degrees of regularity.

The characteristic property of nanoparticles generated by laser ablation of metallic targets in liquids to be surface electrically charged can be exploited for the deposition of the nanoparticles onto electrically conducting substrates directly from the synthesized colloidal solution by using the method of electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The method benefits from the high quality of the interface between the deposited nanoparticles and the substrate due to the ligand-free nanoparticle surfaces and thus providing hybrid materials with advanced and novel properties. In this letter, an Au bulk target was laser ablated in deionized (DI) water for the generation of an Au nanoparticle colloidal solution. Under the present conditions of ablation, nanoparticles with diameters from 4 and up to 67 nm are formed in the solution with 80% of the nanoparticles having diameters below ~20 nm. Their size distribution follows a log-normal function with a median diameter of 8.6 nm. The nanoparticles were deposited onto graphene on a quartz surface by anodic EPD performed at 30 V for 20 min and a longer time of 1 h. A quite uniform surface distribution of the nanoparticles was achieved with surface densities ranging from ~15 to ~40 nanoparticles per μm². The hybrid materials exhibit clearly the plasmon resonance absorption of the Au nanoparticles. Deposition for short times preserves the integrity of graphene while longer time deposition leads to the conversion of graphene to graphene oxide, which is attributed to the electrochemical oxidation of graphene.