High-power passively continuous-wave and Q-switching mode-locked Nd:LuVO 4 laser by few-layer graphene-oxide films

Using a series of different concentration polymer-free graphene oxide (GO) films as saturable absorbers (SAs), we demonstrate high-power passively continuous-wave modelocking (CW-ML) and Q-switching mode-locking (QS-ML) for a Nd: LuVO4 laser at 1 mu m. CW-ML pulses of 6.62 ps with maximum output power of 3.89 W have been achieved to give the highest pulse peak power of 4.85 kW and pulse energy of 32.14 nJ under 15-W pumping by using SAs of 84.4% transmittance. Using SAs with a lower transmittance having a larger modulation depth of 75.9% and 63.4%, we obtain both the CW-ML pulses of 4.85-ps and QSML pulses with 2.73 W and 1.92 W output powers, respectively. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America