Continuous-wave laser operation of disordered double tungstate and molybdate crystals doped with ytterbium

Several ytterbium doped disordered doubles tungstate and molybdate crystals, NaGd(WO4)2, NaLa(WO4)2, NaLa(MoO4)2 and LiGd(MoO4)2, were grown with sufficient Yb-doping and optical quality. The crystal field splitting of the Yb3+ multiplets and the lifetimes are similar to the biaxial monoclinic double tungstates but the peak absorption cross sections are roughly one order of magnitude lower. Room temperature cw laser operation was achieved under Ti:sapphire and diode laser pumping. The polarization dependence of the laser emission and possible power scaling were studied. The slope efficiency achieved with the best sample, Yb:LiGd(MoO4)2, was 64.5%. The maximum output power obtained was 900 mW for Yb:NaLa(MoO4)2 pumped in the absorption maximum. The laser tunability was studied with an intracavity Lyot filter and the tuning ranges (FWHM up to 33 nm) achieved indicate interesting potential for mode-locked femtosecond operation.