High-quality black phosphorus (BP) saturable absorber mirror (SAM) was successfully fabricated with few-layered BP (phosphorene). By employing the prepared phosphorene SAM, we have demonstrated ultrafast pulse generation from a BP mode-locked bulk laser for the first time to our best knowledge. Pulses as short as 6.1 ps with an average power of 460 mW were obtained at the central wavelength of 1064.1 nm. Considering the direct and flexible band gap for different layers of phosphorene, this work may provide a possible method for fabricating BP SAM to achieve ultrafast solid-state lasers in IR and mid-IR wavelength region.

A compact saturable absorber mirror (SAM) based on few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) nanoplatelets was fabricated and successfully used as an efficient saturable absorber (SA) for the passively Q-switched solid-state laser at 1 μm wavelength. Pulses as short as 182 ns were obtained from a ytterbium-doped (Yb:LGGG) bulk laser Q-switched by the MoS 2 SAM, which we believe to be the shortest one ever achieved from the MoS 2 SAs-based Q-switched bulk lasers. A maximum average output power of 0.6 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 24%, corresponding to single pulse energy up to 1.8 μJ. In addition, the simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switching at 1025.2 and 1028.1 nm has been successfully achieved. The results indicate the promising potential of few-layer MoS 2 nanoplatelets as nonlinear optical switches for achieving efficient pulsed bulk lasers.

A compact saturable absorber mirror (SAM), based on multilayered black phosphorus (BP) nanoplatelets, was fabricated and successfully used as an efficient saturable absorber (SA) in a passively Qswitched Tm:YAP laser at 1.9 μm. With the BP SAM, Q-switched pulses with a duration of 181 ns and an average output power of 3.1 W were generated at a pulse repetition rate of 81 kHz. This resulted in a pulse energy of 39.5 μJ which, to the best of our knowledge, is the record among the reports on BP SA-based Q-switched lasers. In addition, the simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switched operation at both 1969 and 1979 nm has been observed. The results indicate the promising potential of multilayered BP nanoplatelets as SAs for achieving efficient pulsed lasers at around 2 μm.

Using high-quality single-layer graphene as a saturable absorber, Tm:YAlO₃ (Tm:YAP) crystal as the gain medium, we demonstrated a laser-diode-pumped, compact, passively Q-switched (PQS) solid-state laser in the 2 μm region. The maximum average output power was 362 mW, with the corresponding largest pulse repetition rate and pulse energy of 42.4 kHz and 8.5 μJ, respectively. Under the same pump power, the pulse width of 735 ns was obtained, which is, to our best knowledge, the shortest pulse width among Tm-doped solid-state PQS lasers using graphene saturable absorber mirrors.

A high-quality black phosphorus (BP) saturable-absorber mirror (SAM) was successfully fabricated with the multi-layered BP, prepared by liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) method. The modulation depth and saturation power intensity of BP absorber were measured to be 10.7% and 0.96 MW/cm(2), respectively. Using the BP-SAM, we experimentally demonstrated the mid-infrared (mid-IR) pulse generation from a BP Q-switched Cr:ZnSe laser for the first time to our best knowledge. Stable Q-switched pulse as short as 189 ns with an average output power of 36 mW was realized at 2.4 μm, corresponding to a repetition rate of 176 kHz and a single pulse energy of 205 nJ. Our work sufficiently validated that multi-layer BP could be used as an optical modulator for mid-IR pulse laser sources.