Stable nanosecond pulse generation from a graphene-based passively Q-switched Yb-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate stable 70?ns pulse generation from a Yb-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by a graphene-based saturable absorber mirror in a short linear cavity. The maximum output power was 12?mW and the highest single pulse energy was 46?nJ. The repetition rate of the fiber laser can be widely tuned from 140 to 257?kHz along with the increase of the pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for passively Q-switched sub-100-ns pulse operation of a graphene-based saturable absorber in a Yb-doped fiber laser.