Vanadium Aluminium Carbide Saturable Absorber in Passively Q-switched Erbium-doped Fibre Laser

Following the success of graphene saturable absorber (SA) in the development of passively Q-switched fibre lasers within the past decade, research on two-dimensional (2-D) nanomaterials SAs have shown a significant rise in demands. Nonetheless, there have been several unavoidable setbacks due to the nature of certain nanomaterials, in terms of optical, electronic and physical properties up until the reveal of transition metal carbide (MXene) nanomaterials. These metal-ceramic materials exhibit excellent optical and electrical properties as well as outstanding physical characteristics. However, their synthesis processes involve hazardous and highly acidic chemicals, which drove the researchers to adopt their precursors— ternary nanolaminate carbides (MAX phases) nanomaterials with a simpler and more exquisite fabrication process. This paper presents a passively Q-switched erbium-doped fibre laser (EDFL) with the utilisation of a MAX phases nanomaterial, vanadium aluminium carbide (V4AlC3) as SA. The V4AlC3 SA was fabricated through the solution casting technique with polyvinyl alcohol as the host polymer. The V4AlC3 SA was then integrated into a passively Q-switched EDFL configuration. The performance of V4AlC3 SA as a Q-switcher was determined with the assistance of an optical spectrum analyser (OSA), mixed domain oscilloscope (MDO), and optical power meter (OPM). The maximum pulse repetition rate and minimum pulse width were 54.37 kHz and 6.43 ms, respectively. The minimum repetition interval was 18.33 ms and the duty cycle was 0.326. The highest attained output power was 2.5 mW. Through calculation, the maximum pulse energy and peak power were identified as 45.246 nJ and 6.602 mW. The extensively gigantic pulses in nanosecond duration at 1560.16 nm was accomplished by the V4AlC3 SA, thus proving its stability which also signifies good applications especially those acquiring stable high power and energy.