High stability and low noise laser-diode end-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic passively Q-switched laser at 1123 nm based on a Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-PVA saturable absorber

We report a high repetition frequency, high power stability and low laser noise laser-diode(LD) end-pumped Nd: YAG ceramic passively Q-switched laser at 1123 nm based on a Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) film as a saturable absorber(SA). A Brewster polarizer(BP) and a birefringent crystal(BC) are incorporated to enable frequency selection and filtering for the passively Q-switched 1123 nm pulsed laser to improve the power stability and reduce the noise. When the pump power is 5.1 W, an average output power of 457.9 m W is obtained, corresponding to a repetition frequency of 1.09 MHz,a pulse width of 56 ns, a spectral line width of 0.65 nm, a power instability of ±0.92%, and a laser noise of 0.89%.The successful implementation of the “Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)-PVA film passively Q-switching” combined with “frequency selection and filtering of BP + BC” technology path provides a valuable reference for developing pulsed laser with high repetition frequency, high stability and low noise.

High efficiency sub-nanosecond electro-optical Q-switched laser operating at kilohertz repetition frequency

Based on a theoretical model of Q-switched laser with the influences of the driving signal sent to the Pockels cell and the doping concentration of the gain medium taken into account,a method of achieving high energy sub-nanosecond Q-switched lasers is proposed and verified in experiment.When a Nd:YVO4 crystal with a doping concentration of 0.7 at.%is used as a gain medium and a driving signal with the optimal high-level voltage is applied to the Pockels cell,a stable single-transverse-mode electro-optical Q-switched laser with a pulse width of 0.77 ns and a pulse energy of 1.04 mJ operating at the pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz is achieved.The precise tuning of the pulse width is also demonstrated.

Modelling of passively Q-switched lasers with intracavity Raman conversion

We present a model of passively Q-switched Raman lasers by utilizing the rate equations. The intracavity fun-damental photon density, Raman photon density and the initial population-inversion density of the gain medium are assumed to be of Gaussian spatial distributions. These rate equations are normalized by introducing some synthetic parameters and solved numerically, and a group of general curves are generated. Prom these curves we can understand the dependence of the Raman laser pulse characteristics on the parameters about the pumping, the gain medium, the Raman medium and the resonator. An illustrative calculation for a passively Q-switched Nd^3＋：GdVO4 self-Raman laser is presented to demonstrate the usage of the curves and related formulas.

Er^3+,Yb^3+:glass-Co^2+:MgAl2O4 diffusion bonded passively Q-switched laser

A Co^2＋：spinel passively Q-switched erbium-ytterbium-phosphate glass bonded laser pumped at 940 nm is reported.A pulse energy of 210 μJ, a peak power over 70 kW, and beam quality M-2 parameter of 1.2 are obtained under a pump power of 235 mW. An unbonded laser output experiment with the same dimension of the active material and the saturable absorber as the bonded laser output experiment is carried out. The reason why the output in the bonded laser is improved is determined.

Laser Diode-Pumped Nd：LuVO4 Acousto-Optic Q-Switched Laser at 916 nm

A compact laser diode-pumped solid-state Nd：LuVO4 acousto-optic Q-switched laser is demonstrated at 916 nm of a quasi-three level for the first time. A pulse width of 130ns is observed when the pulse-repetition frequency is 10 kHz. The laser experiment shows that the Nd：Lu VO4 crystal can be used for efficient diode-pumped Q-switched lasers.

Modeling the pulse shape of Q-switched lasers to account for terminal-level relaxation

To account for the effect of lower-level relaxation, we have derived a characteristic equation for describing the laser pulse from the modified rate equations for Q-switched lasers. The pulse temporal profile is related to the ratio of the lower-level lifetime to the cavity lifetime and the number of times the population inversion density is above the threshold. By solving the coupled rate equations numerically, the effect of terminal-level lifetime on pulse temporal behaviour is analysed. The mode is applied to the case of a diode-pumped Nd：YAG laser that is passively Q-switched by a Cr4＋ ：YAG absorber. Theoretical results show good agreement with the experiments.

Comparative study of pulsed laser diode end-pumped thulium-doped 2-µm Q-switched lasers

We report pulsed laser diode(LD)end-pumped acoustic Q-switched Tm:YAG laser,Tm:LuAG laser,and Tm:LuYAG laser and the physical properties and spectra of Tm:YAG,Tm:LuAG,and Tm:LuYAG are analyzed.The Tm:LuYAG laser is pumped by 785-nm and 788-nm pulses separately,and is compared with Tm:YAG laser.Different output energy values and output wavelengths of Tm:LuAYG lasers pumped by LDs with different wavelengths are obtained and compared with each other.When the repetition frequency is 100 Hz,the pulsed Tm:YAG laser has single pulse energy of 15.9 mJ,pulse width of 126.7 ns,and the center wavelength of 2013.36 nm,and the pulsed Tm:LuAG laser possesses single pulse energy of 11.8 mJ,pulse width of 252.4 ns,and the center wavelength of 2023.65 nm,and the pulsed Tm:LuYAG laser output energy values are 12.32 mJ and 12.25 mJ with the slope efficiencies of 12.5%and 11.85%,the center wavelengths of 2017.89 nm and 2027.11 nm,respectively,while the pump sources are 785-nm and 788-nm pulsed LDs,respectively.

Analysis and design of CW-LD pumped stable Q-switched laser

A high power continuous wave (CW) laser diode (LD) pumped acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser is presented. A short pulse at the 1064 nm is obtained. With a repetition rate of 50 kHz,the maximum average output power of 5.72 W is achieved. The optical conversion efficiency and the slope efficiency are up to 28% and 32.4% respectively. At the repetition rate of 10 kHz and the pulse width of 16.3ns, the maximum single pulse energy of 286 μJ and the peak power of 13kW are acquired. The laser can be used as a signal source in the free-space optical communication. The output signal agrees with the modulate signal well.

Continuous wave and active Q-switched operation of Watt-level LED-pumped two-rod Nd,Ce:YAG laser

A high-performance LED-side-pumped two-rod Nd,Ce:YAG laser with continuous-wave(CW) and acousto–optical(A-O) Q-switched operation is demonstrated in this work. A symmetrically shaped flat–flat cavity with two identical LEDside-pumped laser modules is employed for power scalability. In the CW regime, the maximum output average power of laser at 1064 nm is 4.41 W, corresponding to a maximum optical conversion efficiency of 5.3% and a slope efficiency is 12.4%. In the active Q-switched regime, the pulse energy of laser reaches as high as 0.89 m J at a repetition rate of 800 Hz with a pulse width of 457.2 ns, the corresponding highest peak output power is 1.94 k W and the M~2 factor is measured to be about 8.8. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first demonstration and the highest performance of a CW LED-side-pumped two-rod laser Nd,Ce:YAG with Watt-level output reported so far.

An LED-Side-Pumped Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Nd,Ce:YAG Laser Producing a 2W Q-Switched Red Beam

We report a high-average-power acousto-optic(AO)Q-switched intracavity frequency-doubled red laser based on a high-efficiency light-emitting-diode(LED)pumped two-rod Nd,Ce:YAG laser module.Under quasi-continuous wave operation conditions,a maximum output power of 1319.08 nm wavelength was achieved at 11.26 W at a repetition rate of 100 Hz.

Antimonene-based saturable absorber for a soliton mode-locked and Q-switched fiber laser in the 2 μm wavelength region

We demonstrate antimonene as a saturable absorber(SA) to generate an ultrafast mode-locked and Q-switched laser in the 2 μm wavelength region. The two antimonene-based SAs were prepared and inserted separately in a thulium–holmiumdoped fiber laser to produce the pulsed laser. Antimonene was coated onto a tapered fiber to generate soliton mode-locked pulses and used in thin-film form for the generation of Q-switched pulses. The mode-locking was stable within a pump power of 267 m W–511 m W, and the laser operated at a central wavelength of 1897.4 nm. The mode-locked laser had a pulse width of 1.3 ps and a repetition rate of 12.6 MHz, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 64 d B. Q-switched laser operation was stable at a wavelength of 1890.1 nm within a pump power of 312 m W–381 m W. With the increase in pump power from 312 m W to 381 m W, the repetition rate increased to a maximum of 56.63 k Hz and the pulse width decreased to a minimum value of 2.85 μs. Wide-range tunability of the Q-switched laser was also realized within the wavelength range of1882 nm–1936 nm.

Single-frequency linearly polarized Q-switched fiber laser based on Nb_(2)GeTe_(4)saturable absorber

We report a single-frequency linearly polarized Q-switched fiber laser based on an Nb_(2)GeTe_(4)saturable absorber(SA).The Nb_(2)GeTe_(4)SA triggers passive Q-switching of the laser,and an un-pumped Yb-doped fiber together with a 0.08-nmbandwidth polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating(FBG)acts as an ultra-narrow bandwidth filter to realize singlelongitudinal-mode(SLM)oscillation.The devices used in the laser are all kept polarized,so as to ensure linearly polarized laser output.Stable SLM linearly polarized Q-switching operation at 1064.6 nm is successfully achieved,producing a laser with a shortest pulse width of 1.36μs,a linewidth of 28.4 MHz,a repetition rate of 28.3 kHz-95.9 kHz,and a polarization extinction ratio of about 30 dB.It is believed that the single-frequency linearly polarized pulsed fiber laser studied in this paper has great application value in gravitational wave detection,beam combining,nonlinear frequency conversion,and other fields.

1.5-MHz repetition rate passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser based on WS2 saturable absorber

A transmission-type tungsten disulfide（WS_2）-based saturable absorber（SA） is fabricated and applied to passively Q-switched Nd：YVO_4 laser.The WS_2 nanosheets are deposited on a quartz substrate by the vertical evaporation method.By inserting the WS2 SA into the plano-concave laser cavity,we achieve 153-ns pulses with an average output power of1.19 W at 1064 nm.To the best of our knowledge,both of them are the best results among those obtained by the Q-switched solid-state lasers with WS_2-based absorbers.The repetition rate ranges from 1.176 MHz to 1.578 MHz.As far as we know,it is the first time that MHz level Q-switched pulses have been generated in all solid state lasers based on low-dimensional materials so far.

Graphene oxide for diode-pumped Tm:YLF passively Q-switched laser at 2 μm

A diode-pumped Tm：YLF passively Q-switched laser at 2 μm was first demonstrated by using graphene oxide（GO） as a saturable absorber（SA）.In this letter,continuous-wave（CW） laser and pulse laser performances were studied meticulously and systematically.It reasonably showed the dependence of the pulse duration,pulse energy,and pulse repetition rate on the absorbed power.A maximum repetition rate of 38.33 kHz and a single pulse energy of 9.89 μJ were obtained.

Line-narrowed electro-optic periodically-poled-lithium-niobate Q-switched laser with intra-cavity optical parametric oscillation using a grazing-incidence grating

We report a line-narrowed electro-optic periodically-poled-lithium-niobate （PPLN） Q-switched laser with intra-cavity optical parametric oscillation using a grazing-incidence grating, producing 8-ns, 5-#J pulses at 10-kHz repetition rate when pumped with a 10-W diode laser at 808 rim. The output wavelength is centered at 1554.3 nm with a 0.03-nm spectral width. Wavelength tuning is achieved by rotating a mirror and changing the crystal temperature.

High repetition rate passively Q-switched laser on Nd:SRA at 1049 nm with MXene Ti3C2Tx

A new disordered crystal Nd:SrAl12O19(Nd:SRA)with an Nd3+doping concentration of 5%was successfully grown using the Czochralski method.A diode-pumped Nd:SRA Q-switched laser operating at 1049 nm was demonstrated for the first time,to the best of our knowledge.Based on an MXene Ti3C2Tx sheet,a high repetition rate of 201 kHz and a Q-switched pulse width of 346 ns were obtained when the absorbed pump power was 2.8 W.The peak power and single pulse energy were 1.87 W and 0.65μJ,respectively.

Liquid metal as a broadband saturable absorber for passively Q-switched lasers

We demonstrated the efficient plasmon-induced nonlinear absorption of liquid metal GaInSn nanospheres prepared by a facile liquid-phase method. With GaInSn as saturable absorbers, a passively Q-switching operation was obtained at both 1.3 and 2 μm. The pulse width of 32 ns was achieved at 1.3 μm with repetition rate of44 kHz, single pulse energy of 51.9 μJ, and output power of 425 mW. Meanwhile, 510 ns and 92 kHz pulses with energy of 36.1 μJ and output power of 2.48 W were obtained at 2 μm. This work provides the potential of liquid metal for improving metal functions and flexible optical devices.

Passively Q-Switched Nd,Cr:YAG Laser Simultaneous Dual-Wavelength Operation at 946 nm and 1.3μm

A diode-end-pumped Q-switched high-efficiency Nd, Cr：YAG laser with simultaneous dual-wavelength emission at 946nm and 1.3μm is demonstrated. The maximum output power of 1.93 W with simultaneous dual-wavelength operation is achieved at an absorbed pump power of 13.32 W and an absorbed slope efficiency of 15.15%. The maximum optical-optical efficiency is 14.49% with pulse widths of 16.38ns at 946nm and 26.65ns at 1.3μm. A maximum total repetition rate of 43.25 kHz is obtained.

Q-Switched Raman Fiber Laser with Molybdenum Disulfide-Based Passive Saturable Absorber

We demonstrate a Q-switched Raman fiber laser using molybdenum disulfide （MoS2） as a saturable absorber （SA）. The SA is assembled by depositing a mechanically exfoliated MoS2 onto a fiber ferrule facet before it is matched with another clean ferrule via a connector. It is inserted in a Raman fiber laser cavity with a total cavity length of about 8kin to generate a Q-switching pulse train operating at 1560.2nm. A 7.7-kin-long dispersion compensating fiber with 584 ps.nm-i km-1 of dispersion is used as a nonlinear gain medium. As the pump power is increased from 395 m W to 422 m W, the repetition rate of the Q-switching pulses can be increased from 132.7 to 137.4 kHz while the pulse width is concurrently decreased from 3.35μs to 3.03μs. The maximum pulse energy of 54.3 nJ is obtained at the maximum pump power of 422 roW. These results show that the mechanically exfoliated MoS2 SA has a great potential to be used for pulse generation in Raman fiber laser systems.

A compact graphene Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser using optical circulator and tunable fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched tunable erbium-doped fiber laser （EDFL） based on graphene as a saturable absorber （SA）. A three-port optical circulator （OC） and a strain-induced tunable fiber Bragg grating （TFBG） are used as the two end mirrors in an all-fiber linear cavity. The Q-switched EDFL has a low pump threshold of 23.8 mW. The pulse repetition rate of the fiber laser can be widely changed from 9.3 kHz to 69.7 kHz by increasing the pump power from 23.8 mW to 219.9 mW. The minimum pulse duration is 1.7 p.s and the highest pulse energy is 25.4 nJ. The emission wavelength of the laser can be tuned from 1560.43 nm to 1566.27 nm by changing the central wavelength of the straininduced TFBG.