Optical refrigeration to 119 K, below National Institute of Standards and Technology cryogenic temperature

We report on bulk optical refrigeration of Yb:YLF crystal to a temperature of similar to 124 K, starting from the ambient. This is achieved by pumping the E4-E5 Stark multiplet transition at similar to 1020 nm. A lower temperature of 119 +/- 1 K (similar to - 154C) with available cooling power of 18 mW is attained when the temperature of the surrounding crystal is reduced to 210 K. This result is within only a few degrees of the minimum achievable temperature of our crystal and signifies the bulk solid-state laser cooling below the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-defined cryogenic temperature of 123 K. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America