Widely tunable Tm3+:LuF3-CaF2 diode pumped laser

The thulium (Tm 3+ ) doped solid state lasers, operating on the transition 3 F 4 → 3 H 6 are sources of broadly tunable "eye-safe" laser radiation in the 1.8 to 2.1 µm region where are located important absorption bands of different molecular gases such as H 2 O or CO 2 . This spectral region is interesting for applications such as coherent radar systems, atmospheric remote sensing, high-resolution spectroscopy, and medical surgery. This broad range of applications stimulates research on thulium solid state lasers and search for new host materials. [1] - [2] The basic spectroscopic and laser properties of novel Tm:LuF 3 -CaF 2 mixed fluoride crystal were investigated in previous paper [3] . In this paper we focus on the laser wavelength tuning properties. The crystal was grown in A. M. Prokhorov General Physics institute by the Bridgmann-Stockbauer technique in fluorinating atmosphere. The composition of the melt was (TmF 3 ) 1 (CaF 2 ) 97 (LuF 3 ) 2 . The sample was cut from the grown crystal in the form of 7.1 mm thick block with plan-parallel polished faces without any anti-reflection coating.