Fiber lasers have long remained relevant for various applications worldwide in many industries. This paper presents a mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) using our home-made topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ nanosheets (TI Bi₂Se₃) as the saturable absorber. The fabricated TI Bi₂Se₃ is transported to the end of the fiber ferrule using an optical deposition process, which is a key ingredient for initiating a pulsed fiber laser. With a pump power of 211.1 mW, the captured repetition rate and pulse width are 8.3 MHz and 6.2 ns, respectively. The length of the setup configuration is approximately 20 m, which corresponds to an output power measurement of 12.4 mW with a calculated pulse energy of 1.5 nJ. There are no significant Kelly sidebands, but the strong stability of the pulsed laser is defined by a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of around 60.35 dB.

Utilizing bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) nanosheet saturable absorbers (SA), a remarkable source of continuous-wave infrared radiation known for its high efficiency and wide range of accessible wavelengths, has been successfully developed. The mode-locking bright pulses have a repetition frequency of 9.5 MHz and a pulse width of 0.6 ps at a power level of 203.5 mW. The optical spectrum has its center at 1050.23 nm and delivers pulse energies of 2.13 nJ and output power of 20.3 mW. Using a straightforward 18 m long ring design and a laser cavity with a −19.9 ps²/km dispersion, a 44 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was achieved to demonstrate the pulse’s strong stability.

Microbottle resonators (MBR) are bottle-like structures fabricated by varying the radius of an optical fiber. MBRs can support whispering gallery modes (WGM) by the total internal reflection of the light coupled into the MBRs. MBRs have a significant advantage in sensing and other advanced optical applications due to their light confinement abilities in a relatively small mode volume and having high Q factors. This review starts with an introduction to MBRs’ optical properties, coupling methods, and sensing mechanisms. The sensing principle and sensing parameters of MBRs are discussed here as well. Then, practical MBRs fabrication methods and sensing applications are presented.

We report the fabrication of an erbium-doped fiber-based saturable absorber (SA) of niobium aluminium carbide (Nb₂AlC) nanomaterial that can generate a dissipative soliton mode-locked pulse. Stable mode-locked pulses operating at 1530 nm with repetition rates of 1 MHz and pulse widths of 6.375 ps were produced using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and the Nb2AlC nanomaterial. A peak pulse energy of 7.43 nJ was measured at 175.87 mW pump power. In addition to providing some useful design suggestions for manufacturing SAs based on MAX phase materials, this work shows the MAX phase materials’ immense potential for making ultra-short laser pulses.