Soliton mode-locked pulse generation with a bulk structured MXene Ti₃AlC₂ deposited onto a D-shaped fiber

Abstract

We propose a bulk structured MXene, T i 3 A l C 2 deposited onto D-shaped fiber for soliton generation in an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity. Our saturable absorber (SA) device, based on MAX phase, was prepared by using stirring and ultrasonic vibration, which offer easier sample preparation compared with its 2D counterparts. By means of the polishing wheel technique, we fabricated a D-shaped fiber with a controlled polishing depth and incorporated the MAX phase T i 3 A l C 2 solution onto its polishing region. We obtained a mode-locked soliton pulse with the proposed MAX phase D-shaped (MAX-DS) SA in EDFL cavity. The pulse width, repetition rate, and central wavelength of the pulse train are 2.21 ps, 1.89 MHz, and 1557.63 nm, respectively. The polarization-insensitive EDFL cavity initiated a soliton operation with superior stability as the pump power tuned from 21 to 131 mW; further, the ML laser exhibits an average power of 15.3 mW, peak power of 3.8 kW, and pump efficiency of 12.5%. The MAX-DS SA incorporated inside the EDFL reveals efficient output performance, with a pulse energy of 8.14 nJ, the highest ever reported, to our best knowledge, among D-shaped fiber-based SA.

TiO2-SiO2 Nanocomposite Saturable Absorber for Ultrafast Photonics

“…In other works, the indirect light coupling method enables a high-power tolerance as compared to the sandwiched thin film in between FFs. Previously, SAs were fabricated by depositing Ti 3 AlC 2 [54] and rGO-TiO 2 [55] solutions onto side-polished fibers (SPFs) via simple drop and dry technique. However, the uncontrolled surface roughness caused by polishing effect might contribute to the inhomogeneous surface morphology of the deposited material and enhanced scattering effect, resulting to the high transmission loss of the Ti 3 AlC 2 -SA [54] and rGO-TiO 2 -SA [55].…”

“…Previously, SAs were fabricated by depositing Ti 3 AlC 2 [54] and rGO-TiO 2 [55] solutions onto side-polished fibers (SPFs) via simple drop and dry technique. However, the uncontrolled surface roughness caused by polishing effect might contribute to the inhomogeneous surface morphology of the deposited material and enhanced scattering effect, resulting to the high transmission loss of the Ti 3 AlC 2 -SA [54] and rGO-TiO 2 -SA [55]. On the contrary, the work reported by Zhu et al [56] successfully transferred TiS 2 nanosheets onto SPF through an optical deposition method, yielding a lower loss compared to [54], [55].…”

“…However, the uncontrolled surface roughness caused by polishing effect might contribute to the inhomogeneous surface morphology of the deposited material and enhanced scattering effect, resulting to the high transmission loss of the Ti 3 AlC 2 -SA [54] and rGO-TiO 2 -SA [55]. On the contrary, the work reported by Zhu et al [56] successfully transferred TiS 2 nanosheets onto SPF through an optical deposition method, yielding a lower loss compared to [54], [55]. The optical deposition offers a controllable material attachment onto the substrate, whereby it is highly dependent on the wavelength and power of the pump source, solvent used and deposition time.…”

“…Other than that, a multimode fiber SA (FSA) contained anatase TiO 2 offers a high-power tolerance, yet a pulling tower is required to draw the fiber from a preform [19]. From Table II, the modulation depth of TiO 2 -SiO 2 -SA was characterized to be 17.10%, which is higher than [53], [54], [56] and significantly lower than [55].…”

MXene Saturable Absorbers in Mode‐Locked Fiber Laser

“…Nevertheless, the α ns is less likely mentioned in most of the reports, whereas only ref. [130] and ref. [62] reported the values as 49.2% and ≈73.52%, respectively.…”