Passively Q-switched solid-state Tm:YAG laser using topological insulator Bi2Te3 as a saturable absorber

We demonstrated a passively Q-switched solid-state Tm:YAG laser using topological insulator (TI) Bi2Te3 as the saturable absorber (SA) for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The Q-switched laser pulses were obtained with the minimum pulse width of 382 ns, the maximum pulse energy of 4.8 μJ, the maximum average output power of 272 mW, and a pulse repetition rate of 57.67 kHz. The results indicate that Bi2Te3 can be a promising kind of saturable absorber in the 2 μm wavelength region.