Above-room-temperature optically pumped midinfrared W lasers

We report temperature-dependent pulsed lasing performance, internal losses, and Auger coefficients for optically pumped type-II W lasers with waveleng ths in the range of 3.08-4.03 mu m at room temperature. All lased to at lea st 360 K, and produced 1.5-5 W peak power at 300 K. Internal losses at 100 K were as low as 10 cm(-1), but increased to 90-360 cm(-1) at 300 K. Room t emperature Auger coefficients varied from 5 X 10(-28) cm(6)/s at the shorte st wavelength to 3 X 10(-27) cm(6)/s at the longest. (C) 1998 American Inst itute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)04652-X].