Passively Q-switched lasers at 1.06 μm with graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes D2O dispersion

•The fabricate process of GO and CNTs dispersions was demonstrated.•Q-switching performance of GO and CNTs dispersions was reported.•The GO and CNTs dispersions are suitable for solid-state lasers.

We have investigated the passive Q-switching characteristics of graphene oxide (GO) and single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) D2O (heavy water, deuteroxide) based on a diode-pumped YVO4/Nd:YVO4 laser for the first time as far as we know. By using 20 mg/10 ml GO D2O dispersion, pulses with minimum duration of 344 ns under a repetition rate of 550 kHz were obtained. With 0.3 mg/10 ml SWCNTs D2O dispersion, a maximum pulse energy of 1.2 μJ with duration of 530 ns was achieved at a repetition rate of 178 kHz.