Q -Switched Thulium-Doped Fiber Laser with Molybdenum–Aluminum-Boride-Based Saturable Absorber

We propose and demonstrate a new Q -switched thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) by utilizing a passive saturable absorber (SA) based on Molybdenum–Aluminium boride (MoAlB). The MoAlB is a metal–ceramic-based material; it is embedded in polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) material to operate as the SA. The laser successfully generates stable Q -switched pulses operating at 1974.7 nm with a maximum repetition rate of 57.7 kHz and a minimum pulse width of 1.79 μs. A maximum pulse energy of 90.2 nJ is recorded at 436 mW pump power. Our experiment is the first demonstration on the use of MoAlB for the pulse laser generation in the 2 μm wavelength region.