Diode-pumped lasing of stoichiometric crystal KYb(WO/sub 4/)/sub 2/

In this presentation we report results on an investigation of laser performance of a stoichiometric laser crystal KYbW for pumping with an InGaAs diode laser around the zero-phonon line at 981 nm. The slope efficiency of 32% was realized in a quasi-cw regime. We believe that continuous-wave laser operation in KYbW with laser diode pumping could be achieved using options for a suitable cooling technique for the crystal or employing thin-disk laser designs.