ZrS₂ as a saturable absorber for the <i>b</i>-cut Tm:YAP laser

Zirconium disulfide (<i>Z</i><i>r</i><i>S</i>₂) has gained significant interest as a two-dimensional semiconductor material due to its remarkable nonlinear optical performance. This study fabricated a <i>Z</i><i>r</i><i>S</i>₂ saturable absorber (SA) via liquid-phase exfoliation, and its nonlinear optical properties were evaluated using the I-scan technique. For the first time, to our knowledge, <i>Z</i><i>r</i><i>S</i>₂ was employed as an SA to realize a stable 1934 nm passively Q-switching Tm:YAP laser with modulation functionality. At an absorbed pumping power of 3.4 W, the laser generates the shortest pulse width of 590 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 82.03 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of 8 W. Additionally, the <i>M</i>² factors of the output laser were measured as <i>M</i><i>x</i>2=1.04 and <i>M</i><i>y</i>2=1.07, indicating excellent beam quality. This study confirms the significant potential of <i>Z</i><i>r</i><i>S</i>₂ as a high-performance SA for 2 µm pulse generation.