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We report on a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with 4.6 W of linear polarized continuous-wave (cw) output power on the 4F3/2 --> 4I9/2 transitions at 946 nm. Three different crystals, cut for critical type I phase matching at room temperature, are used for the intracavity frequency doubling of the laser: 10-mm-long LiBaO5 (LBO), an 8-mm-long beta-BaB2O4 (BBO), and a 10.4-mm-long BiB3O6 (BiBO) grown by FEE GmbH. Up to 2.8 W of cw output power in the blue spectral range at 473 nm has been achieved with the BiBO crystal (2.1 W with BBO and 1.5 W with LBO).

In this paper we report on diode pumped single mode Tm:LuAG and Tm,Ho:LuAG lasers which are developed as master oscillators for an airborne LIDAR system. Using a new fourfold pump setup 51 mW of output power with a Tm(10%):LuAG laser were reached at room temperature. The Tm(10%),Ho(0.4%):LuAG laser proved to be more temperature sensitive than the Tm laser. 18 mW and 30 mW of single mode laser output could be achieved at room temperature and 0°C, respectively. In multi mode laser operation 130 mW output power at room temperature (slope efficiency 36%) were achieved.

We report cw laser emission of a Pr, Yb-doped ZrF(4)-BaF(2)-LaF(3)-AlF(3)-NaF fiber in the red spectral region. Laser emission was achieved on the transition P(0)(3)?F(2)(3)(lambda(L)=635 nm) with a Ti:sapphire pump laser tuned to lambda(p)=850 nm . A maximum output power of P(out)=675 mW was obtained at an incident pump power of P(in)=3.37 W . The output power was increased to P(out)=1020 mW when pumping with P(in)=5.51 W was provided by two Ti:sapphire lasers. A photon avalanche process was found to contribute strongly to the population of the upper laser level.

We report on efficient lasing of Pr-doped fluoride materials with cw output powers up to 600 mW in the visible spectral range. Praseodymium doped LiYF(4) and LiLuF(4) crystals were pumped either by an intracavity frequency doubled optically pumped semiconductor laser with output powers up to 1.6 W and nearly diffraction limited beam quality or by a multimode GaN-laser diode with an output power of about 370 mW. Furthermore, intracavity frequency doubling of the red Pr-laser radiation to 320 nm reaching output powers of more than 360 mW with a conversion efficiency of 61% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 22% are presented.