Watt-level high power passively mode-locked Nd:LuVO4 laser with carbon nanotube saturable absorber at 1.34 mu m

Abstract

The first Nd:LuVO4 ultrafast mode locking laser operating at 1.34 mu m is demonstrated by utilizing a polymer free single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) absorber fabricated by the vertical evaporation technique. The fast recovery times of the absorber were measured to be 40 fs and 820 fs. The modulation depth of the absorber was about 2%. Passively mode-locked Nd:LuVO4 laser using this absorber was demonstrated. As high as 1.74 W continuous wave mode-locked pulses have been achieved with the pulse duration of 18 ps and the repetition of 125 MHz. Such kind of absorbers have great potential to be put into practical use because of their merit of high damage threshold, broad operational wavelength range and low cost of fabrication. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.