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

Abstract

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.