Fig. 1. Typical method of fabricating microfiber[7]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) microfiber

Fig. 2. Loss characteristics of microfiber[9]

Fig. 3. Evanescent fields of microfiber[10]. (a) Z-direction Poynting vectors of silica wires; (b) fractional power of the fundamental modes inside the core

Fig. 4. Dispersion characteristics of microfiber[9,11]. (a) Calculated β2 at 1 μm versus wavelength; (b) calculated β2 at 2 μm versus wavelength

Fig. 5. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser using microfiber-based carbon nanotube saturable absorber[16]. (a) Absorption of a typical fiber taper; (b) experimental setup; (c) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 6. Experimental results of bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser using microfiber-based carbon nanotube saturable absorber[13]. (a) Optical spectra; autocorrelation traces obtained for (b) clockwise pulse and (c) counterclockwise pulse

Fig. 7. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on CNT-deposited microfiber[17]. (a) Experimental setup of optical deposition; (b) CNT-deposited microfiber; (c) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 8. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser using microfiber-based carbon nanotube/PVA saturable absorber[15]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 9. Schematics of graphene-microfiber waveguide[21]. (a) Agraphene film coating on the microfiber; (b) graphene film surrounding microfiber; (c) microfiber on the graphene film; (d) graphene/polymer composite embedded on the microfiber[20]

Fig. 10. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on a graphene-deposited tapered fiber[23]. (a) Schematic model; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 11. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on graphene-coated microfibers generated by CVD[22]. (a) Transferring process;(b) laser output pulse train and autocorrelation trace

Fig. 12. Experimental results of wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber laser using graphene-based microfiber[27]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) schematic of the microfiber-based graphene saturable absorber; (c) measured saturable absorption; (d) optical spectra

Fig. 13. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on MoS2-taper-fiber device[30]. (a) Optical spectra; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 14. Experimental results of MoS2 multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser based on MoS2-wrapped microfiber[32]. Optical spectra of (a) single-wavelength operation (b) dual-wavelength operation, and (c) triple-wavelength operation

Fig. 15. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on fiber-taper WS2 saturable absorber[35]. (a) Non-linear saturable absorption characteristics; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 16. Experimental results of hybrid mode-locked fiber laser based on fiber-tapered WS2 saturable absorber[36]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 17. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on BP-deposited microfiber[38]. (a) Microscopic image of the fabricated microfiber-based BP SA; (b) non-linear saturable absorption characteristics; (c) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 18. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on BP-deposited microfiber[39]. Soliton train for the (a) 13rd and (b) 37th harmonic orders; Temporal characteristics of mode-locked fiber laser with bunched soliton numbers of (c) 21 and (d) 25 in a single bunch

Fig. 19. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser by a microfiber-based topological insulator saturable absorber (TISA)[50]. (a) Microscopy image of the microfiber-based TISA; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 20. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on microfiber coated with TI film[46]. (a) Saturable absorption test; (b) autocorrelation trace

Fig. 21. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser using a microfiber-based gold nanorod saturable absorber (GNRSA)[53]. (a) Multi-soliton pulse train; (b) microscopy image of the fabricated microfiber-based GNRSA; (c) scattering evanescent field of the GNR-deposited microfiber by launching visible light

Fig. 22. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser using fiber taper for dispersion management[62]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) optical spectrum

Fig. 23. Experimental results of Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser via optical microfiber dispersion management at 1 μm[9]. (a) Experimental setup; (b) typical output optical spectra for the laser cavity incorporated with and without optical microfiber; (c) autocorrelation trace; (d) optical spectra for lasers with and without the chirp compensation by the optical microfiber

Fig. 24. Experimental results of microfiber-enabled dissipative soliton fiber laser at 2 μm[11]. (a) Optical spectrum; (b) intensity autocorrelation and interferometric autocorrelation traces

Fig. 25. Experimental results of wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber lasers at 2 μm[64]. (a) Schematic of experimental setup; (b) spectral response of the fiber taper filter and its shift upon stretching; (c) spectra

Fig. 26. Experimental results of wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber lasers at 2 μm[65]. (a) Spectra of the ASE light with/without a fiber taper; (b) tuning characteristic by stretching the fiber taper

Fig. 27. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser using microfiber as SA[66]. (a) Transmittance of microfibers as a function of pulse intensity with different waist diameters (dots are experimental data and lines are fitting results); (b) spectrum, inset is laser spectrum without microfiber

Fig. 28. Experimental results of mode-locked fiber laser based on microfiber polarizer[67]. (a) Schematic of the microfiber polarizer; (b) schematic of experimental setup; (c) transmission spectra of the microfiber polarizer for two different linearly polarized light