Multi-walled carbon nanotube as a saturable absorber for a passively mode-locked Nd:YVO₄laser

Abstract

Within the family of carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotube material has the advantages of low-cost and high laser damage threshold. Therefore, in principle, it is more suitable for high power laser applications. In this letter, a high power continuous wave mode-locking Nd:YVO4 laser using a multi-walled carbon nanotube absorber has been successfully demonstrated. An average output power as high as 1.4 W has been achieved with a slope efficiency of 24%. The repetition rate and pulse width of the mode-locked laser were 68 MHz and 15.5 ps, respectively. The calculated pulse energy and peak power were 20.6 nJ and 1.33 kW, respectively.