Muhammad Asnawi Zainal, Mohamad Akmal Mohamad Lutfi, Norazriena Yusoff, Siti Nabila Aidit, Harith Ahmad
MXenes are drawing considerable attention in ultrafast photonics due to their layered structure and strong nonlinear optical performance. Complementing this, metal oxides (MO) offer the structural and chemical versatility needed to create more robust hybrid materials. Our study leverages the combined properties of both material classes to synthesize niobium carbide/cobalt oxide (Nb2CTx/Co3O4) hybrid material, prepared using a solution-based method with ultrasonication. The nonlinear optical properties of the prepared Nb2CTx/Co3O4 coated onto the side-polished fiber were measured using the balanced twin detection method. Our findings reveal that Nb2CTx/Co3O4 hybrid SA exhibits good saturation absorption properties, with a saturation intensity of 3.4 MW/cm2, modulation depth of 10.5 %, and non-saturable loss of 81.1 %. Upon integrating the fabricated SA into a full-ring thulium/holmium-doped fiber laser (THDFL) cavity, stable mode-locking was achieved, with the laser operating at a center wavelength of 1901 nm. The generated pulses had a repetition rate of 14.2 MHz and a pulse width of 1.28 ps. The laser exhibited good stability, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of approximately 44 dB and no significant fluctuations observed during long-term operation. These results highlight the promising performance of Nb2CTx/Co3O4 as an SA and demonstrate its potential as a hybrid MXene–metal oxide SA for future ultrafast photonic devices. © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved.
Photonics Research Centre, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia; Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia; Centre of Printable Electronics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia; Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jalan Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia
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