1.36 W Passively Q-Switched YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄Laser With a WS₂Saturable Absorber

Abstract

By using WS ₂ as saturable absorber (SA), a diode-pumped passively $Q$ -switched YVO ₄ /Nd:YVO ₄ laser is demonstrated. Under the pump power of 6.28 W, a maximum output power of 1.36 W and minimum pulse duration of 56 ns with a repetition rate of 1.03 MHz are obtained, resulting in a peak power of as high as 23.6 W. So far as we know, it is the shortest pulse duration in $Q$ -switched lasers with 2-D materials. The experimental results show that WS ₂ is an excellent SA for all-solid-state $Q$ -switched lasers.