Broadband-tunable CW laser operation of Pr3+:LiYF4 around 900 nm

We present here the first broadband-tunable CW laser operation of a Pr3+-doped LiYF4 crystal in the 900-nm spectral range after pumping with an optically pumped semiconductor laser at 479 nm. It is confirmed that the entire emission band can be assigned to the same set of thermalized emitting levels (I-1(6); P-3(0,1)). It is also demonstrated that laser performance could be improved up to laser slope efficiencies of about 33% with threshold absorbed pump powers not exceeding 100 mW. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America