Abstract
We investigate continuous-wave (CW) and mode-locked (ML) operation of bismuth-doped fiber (BDF) lasers at 1.7 μm. We compare the slope efficiency (SE) of the Figure-of-9 (Fo9) and linear cavity configurations for CW operation and find that the linear cavity exhibits a slightly higher SE. We demonstrate that the Fo9 configuration can also support mode-locked operation. We observe multi-pulse operation and can control the number of output pulses by adjusting the pump power.