The performance of Ti2C MXene and Ti2AlC MAX Phase as saturable absorbers for passively mode-locked fiber laser

Abstract This research provides feasibility investigations of Ti2C MXene and Ti2AlC MAX Phase materials to be used as saturable absorbers (SAs). The fabrication procedure for both SAs has been described in this paper, where both laser parameters of Ti2C MXene and Ti2AlC MAX Phase were compared in detail. Ti2C MXene deposited tapered fiber has a modulation depth of 4.7% and saturation intensity of 0.98 MW/cm2, whereas Ti2AlC MAX Phase deposited tapered fiber has corresponding values of 3.27%, 0.86 MW/cm2, respectively. The findings shows that Ti2C MXene can provide a stable mode-locked operation with pulse width of 1.655 ps and optical bandwidth of 2.57 nm at a center wavelength of 1933.82 nm. Similarly, the Ti2AlC MAX Phase produced the corresponding values of 1.382 ps, 2.75 nm, and 1894.54 nm, respectively. Additionally, Ti2C MXene appeared to be a better candidate based on a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value of 70 dB as compared to that of Ti2AlC MAX Phase at 66 dB when operating in a thulium-holmium doped fiber laser (THDFL). The Ti2C MXene and Ti2AlC MAX Phase based SAs have significant potential for photonics applications in the “eye-safe” region.