A passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a carbon nanotube saturable absorber

Abstract

We report the mode locking of a diode pumped Nd:YVO 4 crystal laser by using a transmission type single walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber. The laser operated at 1064 nm pumped by a fiber coupled laser diode with the cavity length of 1826 mm, generated a pulse width of 14 ps at a repetition rate of 82 MHz. The output power of 120 mW was obtained at the absorbed pumping power of 1400 mW.