Diode-Pumped Tunable Room-Temperature LiF:F(2)(-) Color-Center Laser.

Pulsed room-temperature tunable operation of a diode-pumped LiF:F(2)(-) laser has been demonstrated for the first time to the author's knowledge. The LiF:F(2)(-) oscillator was tunable in the 1122-1201-nm range. In the free-running mode, with a nonselective resonator, the LiF:F(2)(-) laser showed a 4% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency and a measured 2.5% pumping-to-lasing efficiency at the maximum of the tuning curve for tunable narrow-band operation.