Watt-level high-stability all-solid-state passively Q-switched laser based on germanene nanosheets

Excellent Q-switching operations modulated by new two-dimensional (2D) saturable absorber (SA) materials with stable performance is a hot topic in all-solid-state pulsed laser research. In this work, the watt-level high-stability passive Q-switching operation in a solid-state Nd:YVO4 laser utilizing the 2D germanene nanosheets as SA was first realized. The nonlinear optical properties of the germanene nanosheets (Ge-Ns) were characterized by experimental means. The stable Q-switched pulse sequence was acquired with a 60.6 ns narrowest pulse width and a 528.6 kHz maximal repetition rate. The average output power of 0.965 W and the corresponding pulse peak power of 30.12 W are obtained under the pump power of 7 W. The findings of the experiments demonstrate that germanene material has remarkable nonlinear optical properties and can be used as an excellent saturable absorber in the field of optical pulse modulation.

Automated summary

This research demonstrates the use of two-dimensional germanene nanosheets as a saturable absorber for watt-level high-stability passive Q-switching operation in a solid-state Nd:YVO4 laser. The experimental results show that germanene material has remarkable nonlinear optical properties.