Passively Q-switched nanosecond erbium-doped fiber laser with MoS2 saturable absorber

Passively Q-switched nanosecond pulsed erbium-doped fiber laser based on MoS2 saturable absorber (SA) is experimentally demonstrated. The high quality MoS2 SA deposited on the broadband high-reflectivity mirror with a large modulation depth of 9% was prepared by pulsed laser deposition method. By inserting the MoS2 SA into an erbium-doped fiber laser, stable Q-switched operation can be achieved with the shortest pulse width of 660 ns, the maximum pulse energy up to 152 nJ and pulse repetition rates varying from 116 to 131 kHz. The experimental results further verify that MoS2 possesses the potential advantage for stable Q-switched pulse generation at 1.5 mu m. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America