UP-CONVERSION LASER-EMISSION FROM YB3-SENSITIZED TM3+ IN BAY2F8()

Room-temperature upconversion laser operation has been demonstrated at 456, 482, 512, 649, and 799 nm in the ytterbium-sensitized thulium sy stem in Bay2F8. With 960-nm titanium-sapphire laser pumping, cw operat ion of the 649- and the 799-nm upconversion laser transitions is obser ved. We believe that this is the first observation of laser emission o n the 799-nm transition from 1G4 and the 512-nm transition from 1D2 in a bulk-crystal sample. At reduced temperatures cw or quasi-cw laser o peration is obtained on the 456-, the 482-, and the 512-nm transitions . Room-temperature diode-laser pumping has been demonstrated for the 4 56-, the 512-, and the 649-nm transitions.