High-damage vanadium pentoxide film saturable absorber for sub-nanosecond Nd:YAG lasers

Low-dimensional materials as saturable absorber (SA) for sub-nanosecond pulse laser have attracted extensive attention due to their excellent optoelectronic properties. However, high-quality low-dimensional materials’ nonlinear optical properties, such as larger damage threshold and higher modulation depth, are essential for generation of stable sub-nanosecond pulse laser. Herein, the large-area high-quality vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) films were prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition technology, and the usage of V₂O₅ films as a SA for sub-nanosecond pulse passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser generation for the first time. It was found that V₂O₅-SA films exhibit excellent nonlinear optical characteristics, with a larger damage threshold of 509.8 mJ/cm² and a higher modulation depth of 21.8 %, and the shortest pulse width of 59 ns. Our experimental results demonstrate that V₂O₅-SA films has the advantages of larger damage threshold and stable availability, which provides a promising solution for the development of high-quality low-dimensional SA devices in short pulse solid-state lasers.