the passively q-switched er: yag laser at 1.6 mu m was achieved with a yag-based mos2 saturable absorber (sa) for the first time. the saturable absorption properties of the mos2 sa near 1.6 mu m were investigated. under an absorbed pump power of 8.09 w, an average output power of 1.08 w with a pulse duration of 1.138 mu s and a repetition rate of 46.6 khz was obtained, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 40.67%. the pulse energy and peak power were calculated to be 23.08 mu j and 20.28 w, respectively. (c) 2017 optical society of america