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Passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4/PPLN green laser with a few-layered MoS2 saturable absorber

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Abstract

We experimentally realized and demonstrated a solid-state, passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4/PPLN green laser with a saturable absorber (SA) based on few-layered MoS2. The MoS2 SA was fabricated by transferring MoS2 nanosheets onto a quartz substrate, and the obtained SA exhibited good transparency from the ultraviolet to near-infrared spectral regions. The modulation depth and the damage threshold of the MoS2 SA were measured to be 4.3% and 33.6 J/cm2, respectively. By inserting the MoS2 SA into a V-shaped laser resonant cavity, we achieved a stable Q-switched laser operation at 532.7 nm with a maximum average output power of 323 mW at the maximum absorbed pump power of 6.21 W that corresponded to a pulse duration of 320 ns, a repetition rate of 66.7 kHz, and a pulse energy of approximately 4.84 μJ. The experimental results validated the feasibility of MoS2 as a SA material and its promising applications in ultrafast lasers.

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Acknowledgements

This article is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 11374161), the Primary Research and Development Plan of Jiangsu Province (no. BE2016756), the Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (no. 1081080015001) and the Top-notch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (no. 1181081501003).

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Chang, J., Yang, Z., Li, H. et al. Passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4/PPLN green laser with a few-layered MoS2 saturable absorber. Opt Rev 24, 765–771 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10043-017-0380-5

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