Watt-level passively Q-switched Yb:LuPO₄ miniature crystal laser with few-layer MoS₂ saturable absorber

We demonstrate a Yb:LuPO₄ miniature crystal laser that is formed with a 5 mm long plane-parallel resonator, and is passively Q-switched by a few-layer MoS₂ saturable absorber. With 6.53 W of pump power absorbed, an average output power of 2.06 W at 1020.8 nm is generated at a pulse repetition rate of 429 kHz with a slope efficiency of 50%; the resulting pulse energy, duration, and peak power are respectively 4.8 μJ, 83 ns, and 57.8 W. While operating at 1010.5 nm, the laser is capable of producing an average output power of 1.53 W at a repetition rate of 870 kHz, with pulse duration being shortened to 61 ns. These results represent a significant progress in the development of Yb- or Nd-ion lasers passively Q-switched by two-dimensional MoS₂.