Passively Q-switched Ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on broadband multilayer Platinum Ditelluride (PtTe) saturable absorber.

Two-dimensional (2D) layered Platinum Ditelluride (PtTe), a novel candidate of group 10 transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which provides enormous potential for pulsed laser applications due to its highly stable and strong nonlinear optical absorption (NOA) properties. PtTe saturable absorber (SA) is successfully fabricated with firstly demonstrated the passively Q-switched laser operation within a Yb-doped fiber laser cavity at 1066 nm. Few layered PtTe is produced by uncomplicated and cost-efficient ultrasonic liquid exfoliation and follow by incorporating into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer to form a PtTe-PVA composite thin film saturable absorber. The highest achieved single pulse energy is 74.0 nJ corresponding to pulse duration, repetition rate and average output power of 5.2 μs, 33.5 kHz and 2.48 mW, respectively. This work has further exploited the immeasurable utilization potential of the air stable and broadband group 10 TMDs for ultrafast photonic applications.