Q-switched pulse generation in erbium-doped fiber laser cavity with vanadium aluminum carbide absorber

• Main Authors: Ghafar, Nurul Athirah M. A., Zulkipli, Nur Farhanah, Omar, Suziana, Markom, Arni Munira, Yasin, Moh, Harun, Sulaiman Wadi
• Format: Article
• Published: SPRINGER 2022
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/46162/; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10946-022-10097-4
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

We report the feasibility of vanadium aluminum carbide (V2AlC) for implementation as a saturable absorber (SA) for Q-switched pulse generation in Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity. The V2AlC, a MAX phase material is successfully combined with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to form a SA film for use in generating stable Q-switched pulses operating at 1559 nm with a maximum repetition rate of 53.55 kHz and a minimum pulse width of 2.54 mu s. The maximum pulse energy equal to 57.14nJ is recorded at a 71.5 mW pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of EDFL passive Q-switching using V2AlC absorber.