Molybdenum Carbide Buried in D-Shaped Fibers as a Novel Saturable Absorber Device for Ultrafast Photonics Applications

Abstract

Study of nonlinear laser–matter interactions in 2D materials has promoted development of photonics applications. As a typical MXene material, molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) has attracted much attention because of its graphene-like structure. Here, a type of D-shaped fiber (DF)-buried Mo2C saturable absorber (SA) fabricated by magnetron-sputtering deposition (MSD) and sol–gel technique is reported. The Mo2C material was buried between the bottom DF and the upper amorphous silica fabricated by sol–gel technology. Therefore, the DF-based SA effectively solves the problem of material shedding and aging, thus improving the stability and damage threshold of the fiber laser. Application of the SA in erbium-doped fiber laser and stable passive Q-switched operation with a maximum pulse energy of 430.47 nJ is realized. By adjusting the polarization state and pump power, high-power mode-locked pulses are generated with a pulse duration and output power of 199 fs and 54.13 mW, respectively. Further, bound-state soliton pulses are obtained with a pulse width of 312 fs and soliton interval of 1.26 ps for the first time based on MXene materials. Moreover, by application of the SA in ytterbium-doped fiber lasers, a stable dissipative soliton mode-locked pulse is obtained with a pulse width of 23 ps. These results indicate that the DF-based buried Mo2C as a novel SA provides a reliable method for all-fiber and multifunctional high-power ultrafast laser.

Preparation and pulsed fiber laser applications of emerging nanostructured materials

“…As another kind of PVD method, the sputtering method can prepare films of various nanomaterials such as metals, 206 metal oxides, 207 metal nitrides, 208 TI, 209 TMDCs, 210,211 In 2 Se 3 , 212 and MXenes. 213 The sputtering system mainly contains a vacuum chamber, a target material, a substrate, a power supply, and a nonreactive gas (usually Ar). Generally, the target material is bombarded by Ar ions, resulting in the release of molecules or atoms which then form thin films on the substrate.…”

Nonlinear Absorption Response of Zirconium Carbide Films

“…MXenes, transition metal carbides and nitrides, represent valuable two-dimensional (2D) materials that have found many uses (e.g., in electromagnetic shielding, electrochemical energy storage, biomedical separation sensors, and seawater desalination) due to their excellent mechanical properties, rich surface chemistry, high conductivity, and excellent photoelectric effects. − Nonlinear optical materials, in particular, are used as saturable absorber optical modulators (SAOM) to generate passive Q-switched or mode-locking pulses in lasers. − Other 2D materials such as direct band gap graphene, graphene oxide, topological insulators, band gap-adjustable transition metal dichalcogenides, and black phosphorus , can also be applied to saturable absorbers to act as an optical modulator. MXenes, due to their superior broad band saturable absorption, − have been intensively studied as SAOMs used for laser pulse generation.…”

Nonlinear Absorption and Refraction Properties of V4C3 MXene and its Use for an Ultra‐Broadband Saturable Absorber

“…Therefore, the feasibility of 2D MXenes has been intensively investigated in high-harmonic generation, [40] plasmonics, [41] exciton-trionbased photoluminescence, [42] and ultrafast mode-lockers. [43] In particular, transition metal carbide (TMC) MXenes, including Ti 3 C 2, [44] V 2 C, [45,46] Nb 2 C, [47,48] Mo 2 C, [49] and Ta 4 C 3, [50] have been developed and used as ultrafast mode-locker in SWIR wavelengths, particularly in the 1550 and 1900 nm wavelength range for optical communications, medical applications, and military technology.…”