Growth and diode-pumped laser operation of Pr3+:β-(Y0.5,Gd0.5)F3 at various transitions.

We report on the crystal growth of the orthorhombic low-temperature β-phase of (Y0.5,Gd0.5)F3 (YGF) single crystals. The crystals were activated with trivalent praseodymium (Pr3+) and characterized with respect to their ground state absorption and stimulated emission properties. Under InGaN-laser-diode pumping, laser oscillation was obtained at more than ten wavelengths in the green, orange, red, and dark red spectral regions. In these initial experiments, output powers exceeding 100 mW and slope efficiencies between 10% and 30% were obtained. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the first application of YGF crystals as laser host material for any active ion.