Magnetron-sputtering deposited molybdenum carbide MXene thin films as a saturable absorber for passively Q-switched lasers

In this study, MXene molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) thin films were fabricated by the magnetron sputtering method to systematically study their optical properties and application in solid-state passively Q-switched pulsed laser generation. The fabricated (Mo₂C) thin films exhibited large nonlinear saturable absorption with a modulation depth of 10.39% and 8.89% at the central wavelengths of 1064 and 1342 nm, respectively. By incorporating the Mo₂C saturable absorber (Mo₂C-SA) into two Nd-doped solid-state lasers, short pulses were generated with a pulse duration/pulse energy/average output power of 136 ns/2.09 μJ/547 mW and 222 ns/1.41 μJ/236 mW in the 1064 nm and 1342 nm regimes, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, the Mo₂C two dimensional (2D) material was used in passively Q-switched solid-state lasers. Our experimental results demonstrate that 2D Mo₂C can be a promising broadband nonlinear optical medium for optical applications.