Nonlinear saturated absorption properties of Ag-MoSe2 films by co-sputtering

•The Ag-MoSe2 films have been synthesized.•The influence of Ag doping on morphology and band gap of Ag-MoSe2 films are analyzed.•The nonlinear absorption and mechanism of Ag-MoSe2 films is investigated. In this paper, the Ag-MoSe2 films were prepared on quartz substrates by magnetron sputtering, and the influence of Ag doping on their morphology, optical band gap and nonlinear optical properties was studied. The SEM images show images show the relative low content of silver, and the Se precipitation. The nonlinear absorption properties were measured by Z-scan technique, indicating the saturable absorption behavior. Under different DC sputtering power, the nonlinear absorption coefficient decreased and then increased. The significant nonlinear absorption is demonstrated with the coefficient of ~ 10-4 cm/W. The proposed Ag-MoSe2 film is a promising candidate for the application in optoelectronic devices.