Gold nanorods based passively Q-switched solid-state laser at 1111.4Â nm wavelength

Gold nanorods (GNRs) were employed as saturable absorbers (SAs) in a passively Q-switched Nd:GYSGG laser operating at 1111.4 nm for the first time. The characteristics of the passive Q-switching laser were studied with different output couplers. When the output coupler with the transmission of 5.7% was used, a stable Q-switched laser with the maximum average output power of 125 mW was achieved, corresponding to the shortest pulse width of 550.6 ns and pulse repetition rate of 120 kHz, respectively. GNRs seems to be a suitable material as a saturable absorber for solid-state lasers.