Diode-pumped Pr3+:Ky3F10 red laser

We report the first observation to our knowledge of room-temperature continuous-wave laser operation of a Pr3+ : KY3F10 single crystal at 644.5 nm, pumped by a blue GaN laser diode emitting at 446 nm. With a 2.5% transmission output coupler and a nonoptimized optical cavity, an output power of 39 mW was obtained at 644.5 mn with a laser threshold of 125 mW and a differential slope efficiency of 23%. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America