Room temperature near-infrared tunable Cr:La/sub 3/Ga/sub 5/SiO/sub 14/ laser

Laser operation was achieved in a Cr-doped crystal of La/sub 3/Ga/sub 5/SiO/sub 14/. The laser had a free-running wavelength of 960 nm at room temperature from 862 to 1107 nm. Up to 80 mW output power has been measured with 1.5 W of pump power absorbed from a krypton ion laser. The /sup 4/T/sub 2/ fluorescence spectrum showed a peak at 890 nm indicating an unusually large Franck-Condon shift. At room temperature the fluorescence lifetime was 5.3 mu s and the fluorescence quantum yield was measured to be about 14%.<
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