A Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) is proposed and demonstrated using a newly developed multi-walled carbon nanotubes polyethylene oxide (MWCNTs-PEO) film as a passive saturable absorber (SA). The saturable absorber is prepared by mixing the MWCNTs homogeneous solution into a dilute PEO polymer solution before it is left to dry at room temperature to produce thin film. Then the film is sandwiched between two FC/PC fiber connectors and integrated into the laser cavity for Q-switching pulse generation. The laser generates a stable pulse operating at wavelength of 1060.2 nm with a threshold pump power of 53.43 mW. The YDFL generates a stable pulse train with repetition rates ranging from 7.92 to 24.27 kHz by varying 980-nm pump power from 53.42 to 65.72 mW. At 59.55-mW pump power, the lowest pulse width and the highest pulse energy are obtained at 12.18 µs and 143.5 nJ, respectively.

A stable passive Q‐switched Ytterbium‐doped fiber laser (YDFL) operating at 1073‐nm region is demonstrated using single‐walled carbon‐nanotubes (SWCNTs) as a saturable absorber (SA). The SA is prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a host polymer and integrated in the YDFL ring cavity by sandwiching the SWCNT/PVA thin film between two fiber connectors. A stable pulse train is achieved with 17.1‐kHz repetition rate, 6.45‐μs pulse width, and 3.1‐nJ pulse energy at the threshold 980‐nm pump power of 95.4 mW. As the pump power increases to 117.5 mW, the pulse train repetition rate also rises to 23.6 kHz. The shortest pulse width of 3.11 μs and pulse energy of 4.4 nJ are achieved at the maximum pump power of 117.5 mW © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1770–1773, 2014

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We demonstrate a Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) using a newly developed multi-layer black phosphorous (BP) saturable absorber (SA). The BP SA is prepared by mechanically exfoliating a BP crystal and sticking the acquired BP flakes onto a scotch tape. A small piece of the tape is then placed between two ferrules and incorporated in a YDFL cavity to achieve a stable Q-switched operation in a 1.0μm region. The laser has a pump threshold of 55.1 mW, a pulse repetition rate that is tunable from 8.2 to 32.9 kHz, and the narrowest pulse width of 10.8 μs. The highest pulse energy of 328 nJ is achieved at the pump power of 97.6mW. Our results show that multi-layer BP is a promising SA for Q-switching laser operation.