Gold nanorods as a saturable absorber for passively Q-switching Nd:YAG lasers at 1064.3 and 1112 nm

Abstract

Based on gold nanorods as saturable absorbers, diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers at 1064.3 and 1112 nm were demonstrated. In the 1064.3 nm laser, the maximum average output power was 101 mW. Pulses with 223 ns pulse width and pulse repetition rate of 300 kHz were achieved. In the 1112 nm laser, the maximum average output power of 236 mW was obtained. The shortest pulse width was 504 ns at a pulse repetition rate of 120 kHz.

Gold Nanocages as Saturable Absorbers for Passively Q-Switched Nd:YVO4 Lasers with Optimized Performance

“…For lasers with T = 4.0% OC under a pump powers of 5.98 W, the maximum average output powers of 211 mW were received, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 3.5% and slope efficiencies of 4.9%. For lasers at T = 10.8%, under a pump power of 3.95 W, a total of 372 mW average output powers were received, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 9.4% and slope efficiencies of 14.1%, which are remarkable breakthroughs compared with previous works on other reported Q-switched lasers based on GNPs [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. When pump powers are further increased, the passive Q-switching operation becomes unstable.…”

“…Gold nanotriangles (GNTs) and GNRs as SAs for a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1 µm was demonstrated by our team in 2017 [23,24]. With lasers using GNRs as SAs, the pulse width of 223 ns and PRF of 300 kHz at 1064.3 nm and the pulse width of 504 ns and PRF of 120 kHz at 1112 nm were obtained, respectively [23]. While with lasers using GNTs as SAs, the pulse width of 179 ns and PRF of 320 kHz at 1064 nm and the pulse width of 231 ns and PRF of 457 kHz at 1123 nm were obtained, respectively [24].…”

“…In 2016, Zhang et al investigated a passively Q-switched laser at 1064.1 nm using gold nanobipyramids (GNBPs) as SAs, in which the pulse width of 396 ns and the PRF of 90.6 kHz were achieved [22]. Gold nanotriangles (GNTs) and GNRs as SAs for a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1 µm was demonstrated by our team in 2017 [23,24]. With lasers using GNRs as SAs, the pulse width of 223 ns and PRF of 300 kHz at 1064.3 nm and the pulse width of 504 ns and PRF of 120 kHz at 1112 nm were obtained, respectively [23].…”

516 mW, nanosecond Nd:LuAG laser Q-switched by gold nanorods

“…The fast recovery time of a few picoseconds also contributes to the performance of GNRs as the SA, which will facilitate the ultrashort pulse generation [25] . To date, several reports have been presented on the GNRs Q-switched and mode-locked lasers at a number of wavelengths from the visible band to 2 μm with the pulse duration from femtoseconds to microseconds [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] , illustrating the effective SA performance of GNRs similar to 2D materials in the generation of a pulsed laser. Among these, a few results have been reported on the Nd-doped solid-state lasers.…”

“…This group also reported their 1423.4 nm Nd:LGGG laser in 2016 by applying the gold nanobipyramids [33] . The laser output the 514 ns pulse at the repetition rate of 98.6 kHz, and the average power was 125 mW at the pump power of 12.2 W. Song et al reported their GNRs-Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 and 1112 nm, owing the pulse durations of 223 and 504 ns, respectively [34] . The repetition rate was 300 kHz in the 1064 nm laser and 120 kHz in the 1112 nm laser, while the average power was 101 mW at 8.09 W of pump power and 236 mW at 8.57 W, respectively.…”