Graphene Q-Switched Cr:ZnSe Laser

Author

Zhao-Wei Wang ; Xiu-Fang Chen ; Jing-Liang He ; Xian-Gang Xu ; Bai-Tao Zhang ; Ke-Jian Yang ; Rui-Hua Wang ; Xun-Min Liu

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Crystal Mater., Shandong Univ., Jinan, China

Volume

51

Issue

5

fYear

2015

fDate

42125

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a stable Q-switched Cr:ZnSe laser was realized with the graphene saturable absorber grown on SiC substrate. Under an absorbed pump power of 1.8 W, a maximum average output power of 256 mW was obtained with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 14% and a slope efficiency of 19.6%, corresponding to the highest single pulse energy of 1.66 $\\mu text{J}$ . The shortest pulse width and highest pulse repetition rate were 157 ns and 169 kHz, respectively. Using a nanoscan beam analyzer, the $M^{2}$ values of graphene Q-switched Cr:ZnSe laser were measured to be 1.09 and 1.16 for the horizontal and vertical directions. The experimental results indicate that graphene, combined with SiC substrate, provides a simple and cheap way to achieve efficient passively Q-switched lasers at 2.4 $\\mu text{m}$ .

Keywords

Q-switching; chromium; graphene; laser beams; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; silicon compounds; solid lasers; zinc compounds; C; M2 values; SiC; SiC substrate; ZnSe:Cr; absorbed pump power; energy 1.66 muJ; graphene Q-switched Cr:ZnSe laser; graphene saturable absorber; maximum average output power; nanoscan beam analyzer; optical-to-optical conversion efficiency; passively Q-switched lasers; power 1.8 W; power 256 mW; pulse repetition rate; pulse width; single pulse energy; slope efficiency; stable Q-switched Cr:ZnSe laser; time 157 ns; wavelength 2.4 mum; Crystals; Educational institutions; Graphene; Laser excitation; Measurement by laser beam; Pump lasers; Silicon carbide; Cr:ZnSe; graphene saturable; graphene saturable absorber; passively Q-switched;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2015.2410288

Filename

7055245