Passive Q-switching of Pr:LiYF4 orange laser at 604 nm using topological insulators Bi2Se3 as saturable absorber

Q-switched laser operation of a laser diode pumped Pr:LiYF4 laser is reported at 604 nm using a topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 nanosheet material as saturable absorbers (SAs), for the first time to our knowledge. Stable Q-switched laser operation is obtained with shortest pulse width of about 802 ns, a maximum pulse repetition rate of 130 kHz, pulse energy of about 0.2 μJ and a maximum average output power of 26 mW. This work further extends the working wavelength of Bi2Se3 as saturable absorbers to visible domain.