MAX phase (Mo2Ti2AlC3) as a mode-locker for ultrafast fiber laser

Abstract

We developed an ultrafast fiber laser using MAX phase material, Mo2Ti2AlC3, as a saturable absorber (SA). Mo2Ti2AlC3 was drop casted onto a side-polished fiber to act as a SA in an erbium-doped fiber laser cavity. A soliton pulse train was successfully obtained via a mode-locking mechanism. It operated at 1561.3 nm with a repetition rate of 1.8 MHz and a pulse duration of 1.2 ps when a pump light was launched into the cavity at a range between 14.8 mW and 106.4 mW. The signal-background noise ratio of the laser was extremely high at 72.9 dB. We believe that this paper is the first that demonstrates the novel application of Mo2Ti2AlC3 as a promising SA.