diff --git a/.chloggen/mx-psi_configoptional-exporter-pulsar.yaml b/.chloggen/mx-psi_configoptional-exporter-pulsar.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4fab3e4f83385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.chloggen/mx-psi_configoptional-exporter-pulsar.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: breaking
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. filelogreceiver)
+component: pulsarexporter
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Use `configoptional.Optional` for authentication fields
+
+# Mandatory: One or more tracking issues related to the change. You can use the PR number here if no issue exists.
+issues: [41723]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext:
+
+# If your change doesn't affect end users or the exported elements of any package,
+# you should instead start your pull request title with [chore] or use the "Skip Changelog" label.
+# Optional: The change log or logs in which this entry should be included.
+# e.g. '[user]' or '[user, api]'
+# Include 'user' if the change is relevant to end users.
+# Include 'api' if there is a change to a library API.
+# Default: '[user]'
+change_logs: [api]
diff --git a/exporter/pulsarexporter/config.go b/exporter/pulsarexporter/config.go
index 8b7be7e09d19b..7dcaa06ac539f 100644
--- a/exporter/pulsarexporter/config.go
+++ b/exporter/pulsarexporter/config.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/apache/pulsar-client-go/pulsar"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configopaque"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configoptional"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configretry"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/exporterhelper"
 )
@@ -39,10 +40,10 @@ type Config struct {
 }
 
 type Authentication struct {
-	TLS    *TLS    `mapstructure:"tls"`
-	Token  *Token  `mapstructure:"token"`
-	Athenz *Athenz `mapstructure:"athenz"`
-	OAuth2 *OAuth2 `mapstructure:"oauth2"`
+	TLS    configoptional.Optional[TLS]    `mapstructure:"tls"`
+	Token  configoptional.Optional[Token]  `mapstructure:"token"`
+	Athenz configoptional.Optional[Athenz] `mapstructure:"athenz"`
+	OAuth2 configoptional.Optional[OAuth2] `mapstructure:"oauth2"`
 }
 
 type TLS struct {
@@ -95,28 +96,32 @@ func (*Config) Validate() error {
 
 func (cfg *Config) auth() pulsar.Authentication {
 	authentication := cfg.Authentication
-	if authentication.TLS != nil {
-		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationTLS(authentication.TLS.CertFile, authentication.TLS.KeyFile)
+	if authentication.TLS.HasValue() {
+		tlsCfg := authentication.TLS.Get()
+		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationTLS(tlsCfg.CertFile, tlsCfg.KeyFile)
 	}
-	if authentication.Token != nil {
-		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationToken(string(authentication.Token.Token))
+	if authentication.Token.HasValue() {
+		tokenCfg := authentication.Token.Get()
+		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationToken(string(tokenCfg.Token))
 	}
-	if authentication.OAuth2 != nil {
+	if authentication.OAuth2.HasValue() {
+		oauth2Cfg := authentication.OAuth2.Get()
 		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationOAuth2(map[string]string{
-			"issuerUrl": authentication.OAuth2.IssuerURL,
-			"clientId":  authentication.OAuth2.ClientID,
-			"audience":  authentication.OAuth2.Audience,
+			"issuerUrl": oauth2Cfg.IssuerURL,
+			"clientId":  oauth2Cfg.ClientID,
+			"audience":  oauth2Cfg.Audience,
 		})
 	}
-	if authentication.Athenz != nil {
+	if authentication.Athenz.HasValue() {
+		athenzCfg := authentication.Athenz.Get()
 		return pulsar.NewAuthenticationAthenz(map[string]string{
-			"providerDomain":  authentication.Athenz.ProviderDomain,
-			"tenantDomain":    authentication.Athenz.TenantDomain,
-			"tenantService":   authentication.Athenz.TenantService,
-			"privateKey":      string(authentication.Athenz.PrivateKey),
-			"keyId":           authentication.Athenz.KeyID,
-			"principalHeader": authentication.Athenz.PrincipalHeader,
-			"ztsUrl":          authentication.Athenz.ZtsURL,
+			"providerDomain":  athenzCfg.ProviderDomain,
+			"tenantDomain":    athenzCfg.TenantDomain,
+			"tenantService":   athenzCfg.TenantService,
+			"privateKey":      string(athenzCfg.PrivateKey),
+			"keyId":           athenzCfg.KeyID,
+			"principalHeader": athenzCfg.PrincipalHeader,
+			"ztsUrl":          athenzCfg.ZtsURL,
 		})
 	}
 
diff --git a/exporter/pulsarexporter/config_test.go b/exporter/pulsarexporter/config_test.go
index b2b6047e3a902..a09fba7118551 100644
--- a/exporter/pulsarexporter/config_test.go
+++ b/exporter/pulsarexporter/config_test.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configoptional"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configretry"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/confmaptest"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/xconfmap"
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ func TestLoadConfig(t *testing.T) {
 				Topic:                   "spans",
 				Encoding:                "otlp-spans",
 				TLSTrustCertsFilePath:   "ca.pem",
-				Authentication:          Authentication{TLS: &TLS{CertFile: "cert.pem", KeyFile: "key.pem"}},
+				Authentication:          Authentication{TLS: configoptional.Some(TLS{CertFile: "cert.pem", KeyFile: "key.pem"})},
 				MaxConnectionsPerBroker: 1,
 				ConnectionTimeout:       5 * time.Second,
 				OperationTimeout:        30 * time.Second,
diff --git a/exporter/pulsarexporter/go.mod b/exporter/pulsarexporter/go.mod
index 6e8921bd617ee..03fd30a7d08ad 100644
--- a/exporter/pulsarexporter/go.mod
+++ b/exporter/pulsarexporter/go.mod
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component v1.37.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component/componenttest v0.131.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configopaque v1.37.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configoptional v0.131.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configretry v1.37.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap v1.37.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/confmap/xconfmap v0.131.0
@@ -82,7 +83,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/x448/float16 v0.8.4 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/auto/sdk v1.1.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/client v1.37.0 // indirect
-	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/config/configoptional v0.131.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/consumer/consumertest v0.131.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/consumer/xconsumer v0.131.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/xexporter v0.131.0 // indirect