Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser via a thulium-doped fiber saturable absorber.

We demonstrated a reliable and stable Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser centered at 1069 nm by employing a segment of 11 cm thulium-doped fiber (TDF) as a saturable absorber (SA) in the ring cavity. The fiber SA has an optical absorption of 1.35 dB at the Q-switched operating regime.