Q-switched giant pulsed erbium-doped all-fiber laser withV2ZnC MAX phase saturable absorber

MXenes, drawn from MAX phases, are special two-dimensional substances with numerous advantages in nonlinear optics, specifically in giant and ultrashort pulsed-laser applications. Ti3C2Tx and Ti2CTx nanosheets however rapidly deteriorate under ambient conditions, limiting their applications. This paper demonstrates how excellent modulation depth of one of the MAX phase compounds vanadium zinc carbide (V2ZnC) makes it a brilliant saturable absorber (SA) in passively Q-switched all-fiber pulsed lasers, integrated such that a 16.73-µm V2ZnC-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin film acts as SA in the laser. Saturable and non-saturable absorptions were found to be 13.2% and 10.47%, while saturation optical intensity and modulation depth were 6.25 kW/cm2 and 12.43%, respectively, illustrating the optical nonlinearity. The superiority of MAX-PVA, fabricated in four distinct ratios, was demonstrated by the fact that it self-starts a giant pulsed laser at pump power as low as 22.5 mW and firmly accomplished 120.6 kHz repetition rate with a pulse width of 2.08 µs. It is a fine SA for the use of pulsed-laser production using all-fiber laser due to fabrication simplicity and great optical, thermophysical, and mechanical qualities.