Passively Q-switched and mode-locked YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ laser based on a MoS₂ saturable absorber at 1342.5 nm

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) laser with both YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystal and MoS₂ saturable absorber (MoS₂-SA) at ∼1342.5 nm. The MoS₂-SA is fabricated with the liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) method. By inserting MoS₂-SA into a Z-type resonator, we obtain a QML laser operation with the maximum average output power of 600 mW, the shortest envelope duration of 800 ns and the highest repetition rate of 98 kHz at 9 W. The energy of a Q-switched envelope is estimated to be about 6.12 μJ and the peak power is 39 W. The obtained envelope width and repetition rate are both superior to the results obtained from QML lasers with V³⁺:YAG and graphene at 1.34 μm. So far as we know, it is the first report on the QML laser at 1.34 μm with MoS₂-SA, which proves the MoS₂-SA is a good candidate for solid-state QML laser at 1.34 μm.