Watt-level Passively Q-switched and Mode-Locked Nd:YAG Laser with a Reflective MoS2 Saturable Absorber

A passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd: YAG laser with a reflective molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) saturable absorber (SA) was demonstrated. The MoS2 SA was made by spin-coating the MoS2 nanoplates onto a home-made silver mirror. The modulation depth of the MoS2 SA was measured to be 3.05%. We optimized the laser beam radii in the crystal and on the reflective silver mirror with MoS2 by accurately designing the oscillator cavity. Under an incident pump power of 11 W, we got the maximum average output power as high as 1.06 W with a repetition rate of 94.72 MHz. The experimental results validated the outstanding characteristics of MoS2 SA and its further amplification possibility in high power all-solid-state pulse lasers. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.