Passively Q-switched nd:YAG laser via a WS2 saturable absorber

<p> In this work, we report a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm by using WS2 solution as the saturable absorber (SA). The WS2 solution with different concentrations (0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/ml) were fabricated by the liquid-phase-exfoliated method and injected into quartz cells. Such liquid absorbers have the virtues of adjustable optical absorption, high heat dissipation and non-contact damage. By inserting those WS2 solutions in the laser cavity, stable Q-switched laser operations were obtained. The corresponding pulse duration as short as 922 ns was obtained. The result shows that the WS2 material can be act as absorber for solid-state lasers. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.