MoS2 nanoflowers as high performance saturable absorbers for an all-fiber passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser.

Strong saturable absorption was observed in MoS2 nanoflowers, which were synthesized by a facile solvothermal method. A MoS2 nanoflower-based saturable absorber with a high modulation depth of 51.8% and a large saturable intensity of 275.5 GW cm(-2) was introduced to the application of passively Q-switched fiber laser generation. Stable passively Q-switched fiber laser pulses at 1.56 μm with a low threshold power of 16.10 mW, high signal-to-noise ratio of 52.5 dB and short pulse duration of 1.9 μs were obtained. More importantly, a high output power of 3.10 mW related to a large pulse energy of about 51.84 nJ can be attained at a very low pump power. The efficiency of the laser reaches 4.71%, which is larger than that of the prepared layered MoS2 and recently reported MoS2-based passively Q-switching operations. Such results imply that the MoS2 nanoflowers are an excellent candidate for a saturable absorber in passively Q-switched fiber lasers at a low pump intensity.