Tunable continuous wave and femtosecond mode-locked Yb3+ laser operation in NaLu(WO4)2

Continuous wave and femtosecond mode-locked laser operation of Yb3+ in the tetragonal NaLu(WO4)(2) crystal host is demonstrated by pumping with a Ti:sapphire laser. Pumping with 1.8 W at 974 nm, a maximum output power of 650 mW was achieved at 1029.6 nm. The slope efficiency was in excess of 60%. The laser performance was similar for the two polarizations. By inserting a birefringent filter the output wavelength was tunable from 1010 to 1055 nm. Pulses as short as 90 fs with an average power of 50 mW were generated by passive mode locking at a repetition rate of 95 MHz. These attractive laser properties of NaLu1-xYbx(WO4)(2) are related to the inhomogeneous broadening of the Yb3+ spectral features resulting from the local disorder of the host crystal. We report the spectroscopic properties of Yb3+ in the 5-300 K temperature range and the optical properties of the host at room temperature. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.