Generation of bright-dark Q-switched pulse pair in thulium-doped fiber laser cavity with titanium aluminum carbide absorber

• Published in: Microwave and Optical Technology Letters
• Main Author: Omar S.; Musa B.; Rosol A.H.A.; Jusoh Z.; Yasin M.; Harun S.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85165492193&doi=10.1002%2fmop.33837&partnerID=40&md5=453ed5d853ba3b55833f733ff6a827b4

The proposed titanium aluminum carbide (Ti3AlC2) film-based saturable absorber (SA) for Q-switching in thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) cavity offers a cost-effective and practical alternative to conventional SA materials such as graphene or semiconductor. The Ti3AlC2 film was produced using a simple and low-cost casting approach with polyvinyl alcohol as a binder. The SA was devised from the film using a sandwich-structured fiber-ferrule platform and integrated into a TDFL ring cavity. The generated Q-switched pulses were stable and had a repetition rate of up to 20.82 kHz with a minimum pulse width of 3.167 µs and a maximum pulse energy of 58.12 nJ. The Q-switched laser produced the bright-dark pulse pair. These results demonstrate the potential of Ti3AlC2 as a promising SA material for practical applications in the field of fiber lasers. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.