Molybdenum gallium carbide saturable absorber as Q-switcher in an erbium-doped fibre laser

Abstract

In this research work, molybdenum gallium carbide (Mo2Ga2C)—fabricated as a thin film via solution casting technique—was first introduced as a saturable absorber (SA) to regulate the intracavity losses in a Q-switched fibre laser. The fabricated Mo2Ga2C SA had undergone both optical and physical interpretations prior to its employment as a Q-switcher in an erbium-doped fibre laser (EDFL) ring cavity configuration, sandwiched in between the end-facets of the optical fibre ferrules. The Q-switched wavelength was observed at 1532.07 nm and the Q-switching parameters were determined, accordingly. The temporal parameters of Q-switched EDFL, which include the maximum pulse repetition rate, minimum repetition period and minimum pulse duration were indicated as 107.60 kHz, 9.29 μs, and 5.52 μs, correspondingly. The maximum output power, peak power and pulse energy of the Mo2Ga2C-PVA SA as the Q-switcher were 7.3 mW, 11.47 mW and 67.38 nJ, in accordance with a slope efficiency of 7.39 % and signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio of 57.6 dB.