Plasmon-driven Ultrafast and Highly Efficient Saturable Absorption for Ultrashort Pulse Generation Based on 2D V2C

Yingwei Wang; Li Zhou; Quan Long; Xin Li; Haolin Chang; Ning Li; Yiduo Wang; Bei Zhang; Zhihui Chen; Zhongjian Yang; Si Xiao; Chujun Zhao; Shuangchun Wen; Jun He

arXiv · 2508.17617

Plasmon-driven Ultrafast and Highly Efficient Saturable Absorption for Ultrashort Pulse Generation Based on 2D V2C

Yingwei Wang·Li Zhou·Quan Long·Xin Li·Haolin Chang·Ning Li·Yiduo Wang·Bei Zhang·Zhihui Chen·Zhongjian Yang·Si Xiao·Chujun Zhao·Shuangchun Wen·Jun He

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Abstract

Plasmon-driven ultrafast nonlinearities hold promise for advanced photonics but remain challenging to harness in two-dimensional materials at telecommunication wavelengths. Here, we demonstrate few-layer V2C MXene as a high-performance saturable absorber by leveraging its tailored surface plasmon resonance. Combining transient absorption spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we unveil a plasmon-driven relaxation mechanism dominated by interfacial high-energy hot electron generation (~100 fs), enabling giant ultrafast nonlinearities. Crucially, at the communication band (1550 nm), V2C exhibits a high saturable absorption coefficient of -1.35 cm/GW. Integrating this into an erbium-doped fiber laser, we generate mode-locked pulses with a duration of 486 fs at 1569 nm, a 39.51 MHz repetition rate, and exceptional stability (92 dB SNR). This work establishes plasmonic MXenes as a paradigm for tailored ultrafast photonic devices.

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Yingwei Wang, Li Zhou, Quan Long, Xin Li, Haolin Chang, Ning Li, Yiduo Wang, Bei Zhang, Zhihui Chen, Zhongjian Yang, Si Xiao, Chujun Zhao, Shuangchun Wen, Jun He. 2025-08-25. Plasmon-driven Ultrafast and Highly Efficient Saturable Absorption for Ultrashort Pulse Generation Based on 2D V2C. https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.17617

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