A passively Q-switched compact Er:Lu2O3 ceramics laser at 2.8 μm with a graphene saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 ceramics laser using a monolayer graphene saturable absorber (SA). Stable pulsed operation with watt-level average power was achieved by a compact linear cavity without focusing on the SA. This is the first demonstration of a passively Q-switched mid-IR Er:Lu2O3 laser using a graphene SA. A maximum pulse energy of 9.4 μJ and a peak power of 33 W were achieved with a 247 ns pulse duration. To our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration, highest pulse energy, and highest peak power obtained with a graphene SA in the 3 μm wavelength region.