A high-performance passively Q-switched Tm:YAP laser with a TaSe2 saturable absorber

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, TaSe2 material was prepared and used as a saturable absorber (SA) to modulate a Tm:YAP laser. Under the continuous-wave mode, an 18.31 W diode laser was used to pump the Tm:YAP crystal, and an output power of 6.22 W was achieved at 1993.1 nm with an optical–optical conversion efficiency of 33.9%. Under the passively Q-switched mode, the Tm:YAP pulse laser was modulated by a TaSe2-based SA, and a 2.8 W average power and a 440 ns pulse width at 73.15 kHz were obtained at 1988.4 nm, corresponding to an optical–optical conversion efficiency of 15.2% and a per pulse energy of 38.2 µJ.