Recent research progress of two-dimensional saturable absorbers in solid-state lasers
Two-dimensional(2D)materials have the characteristics of low loss,ultrafast carrier response,and wideband nonlinear saturable absorption,which have originated a range of innovative applications in photonics and photoelectric device owing to their advantages of layered structures.Graphene-like materials have recently been uti-lized for short and ultrashort pulsed laser generation in visible,near-infrared,and mid-infrared wavelength ranges.This article reviews the recent progress of 2D materials as saturable absorbers for Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state lasers.First,the preparation methods of 2D materials as saturable absorbers,the saturable absorption principle,and methods for measuring nonlinear absorption properties are introduced and explained theoretically.Second,the solid-state pulsed laser is summarized based on performance of 2D saturable absorbers in operating wavelength,out-put power,and pulse width.Finally,the development trends of two-dimensional saturable absorbers in solid-state la-sers are prospected.