Diode pumped yellow dysprosium lasers

First operation of the 4F(9/2) -> 6H(13/2) laser transition in dysprosium doped yttrium aluminum garnet is reported. Efficient room temperature operation at 583nm was obtained using 447nm GaN diode lasers pumps. Gaussian single-mode operation was demonstrated with a non-optimized slope efficiency of 12%. Millisecond pulsed operation generated 150mW with power limited by the pump diodes' brightness. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America