Growth and diode-pumped CW lasing of Nd:KLu(WO4)2

High optical-quality Nd3+-doped KLu(WO4)2 crystal with sizes up to 55mm×27mm×15mm has been successfully grown by top-seeded solution growth method. Continuous wave (CW) laser output up to 188.3 mW of Nd3+-doped KLu(WO4)2 crystals at 1.073μm (in the F3/24→I11/24 channel) has been achieved with a 1 mm Nd:KLuW crystal under pumping by a 2 W laser-diode (LD) at room temperature. The optical conversion efficiency is 25.3%, which is superior to the former results because 20% optical conversion efficiency was achieved with a 10 mm Nd:KLuW crystal by Kaminskii.