Passively Mode-Locked Nd:YVO4 Laser Using a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Saturable Absorber Pumped by 880 nm Laser Diode

Abstract

We report on a passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser using a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber (SWCNT-SA) fabricated by vertical evaporation. An 880 nm laser diode pump source was used to reduce the thermal load of the laser crystal. At a pump power of 11.8 W, a 1.8 W average output power was achieved for a continuous wave mode-locked laser with an optical conversion efficiency of 15.3%. The repetition rate of the passively mode-locked pulse was 90 MHz with a 15 ps pulse width. The pulse energy and peak power of the mode-locked laser were 20 nJ and 1.3 kW, respectively.