BROADLY TUNABLE CW OPERATION OF NI-MGF2 AND CO-MGF2 LASERS

Operation of cw Ni: MgF2 and Co: MgF2 lasers with an external cavity has produced broadly tunable emission in the near infrared. The Ni: MgF2 laser was tuned continuously from 1.61 to 1.74 μm and the Co: MgF2 laser from 1.63 to 2.08 μm. Optical pumping with a 1.32-μm Nd: YAG laser and conduction cooling of the laser crystals to 80 K yielded stable spiking-free TEM00 outputs from both lasers with maximum cw output powers of about 100 mW. The Ni: MgF2 laser was operated with a single-frequency output of 20 mW and was Q switched to generate a peak power output of 140 W at a 100-Hz repetition rate.