Resonantly pumped Er:YAG laser Q-switched by topological insulator nanosheets at 1617Â nm

We demonstrated an in-band pumped 1617 nm Er:YAG solid-state laser passively Q-switched by self-assembled topological insulator Bi2Te3 nanosheets sandwiched by polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer. With the self-assembled Bi2Te3 saturable absorber, the laser can deliver Q-switched pulse centered at 1617 nm with a maximum single pulse energy 18.3 μJ for output power of 114 mW at repetition rate of 6.22 kHz and the maximum output power of 134 mW at a repetition rate of 11.6 kHz. The results suggest that the potential of topological insulator nonlinear modulator for broadband solid-state lasers applications.