Abstract

In this Letter, high-quality carbon quantum dots (C-QDs) with an average size of 15 nm are synthesized by using a solvothermal method. A C-QD saturable absorber mirror (SAM) was prepared, characterized, and employed as an ultrafast optical switch successfully in a 1.0 μm solid-state laser. The saturable absorption effect (at 1 μm) far away from the linear absorption band of the C-QDs could be attributed to two-photon saturable absorption, which has a native characteristic of wavelength selectivity. The modulation depth ($\mathrm{\Delta }T$) and saturable energy intensity (${\mathrm{\varphi }}_s$) of the C-QD-SA was measured to be about 4% and $15.34\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{mm}}^2$, respectively. By using this SA, a $Q$-switched $\mathrm{Nd}\text{:}{\mathrm{GdVO}}_4$ laser at 1 μm were first realized with the shortest pulse width of 66.8 ns and a maximum repetition rate of 1.13 MHz, respectively. The results indicate that C-QDs may found to be a decent carbon SA material for the high-repetition-rate pulsed laser applications.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

CsPbBr₃ perovskite quantum dots: saturable absorption properties and passively Q-switched visible lasers

Jingzhou Li, Hongxing Dong, Bin Xu, Saifeng Zhang, Zhiping Cai, Jun Wang, and Long Zhang
Photon. Res. 5(5) 457-460 (2017)

High performance of a passively Q-switched mid-infrared laser with Bi₂Te₃/graphene composite SA

Zhenyu You, Yijian Sun, Dunlu Sun, Zaojie Zhu, Yan Wang, Jianfu Li, Chaoyang Tu, and Jinlong Xu
Opt. Lett. 42(4) 871-874 (2017)

716  nm deep-red passively Q-switched Pr:ZBLAN all-fiber laser using a carbon-nanotube saturable absorber

Wensong Li, Tuanjie Du, Jinglong Lan, Changlei Guo, Yongjie Cheng, Huiying Xu, Chunhui Zhu, Fengqiu Wang, Zhengqian Luo, and Zhiping Cai
Opt. Lett. 42(4) 671-674 (2017)

Graphitic C₃N₄ as a new saturable absorber for the mid-infrared spectral range

Mingqi Fan, Tao Li, Guiqiu Li, Houyi Ma, Shengzhi Zhao, Kejian Yang, and Christian Kränkel
Opt. Lett. 42(2) 286-289 (2017)

WS₂ as a saturable absorber for Q-switched 2  micron lasers

Chao Luan, Kejian Yang, Jia Zhao, Shengzhi Zhao, Lei Song, Tao Li, Hongwei Chu, Junpeng Qiao, Chao Wang, Zhen Li, Shouzhen Jiang, Baoyuan Man, and Lihe Zheng
Opt. Lett. 41(16) 3783-3786 (2016)