Large energy laser pulses with high repetition rate by graphene Q-switched solid-state laser

We demonstrated that the graphene could be used as an effective saturable absorber for Q-switched solid-state lasers. A graphene saturable absorber mirror was fabricated with large and high-quality graphene sheets deprived from the liquid phase exfoliation. Using this mirror, 105-ns pulses and 2.3-W average output power are obtained from a passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser. The maximum pulse energy is 3.2 mu J. The slope efficiency is as high as 37% approximating to 40% of the continue-wave laser, indicating a low intrinsic loss of the graphene. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America