The first room temperature stable tunable color center (CC) distributed feedback (DFB) laser is described. The laser utilizes stabilized F 2 +** centers in LiF (LiF:F 2 +** ) as a gain medium. Tunable DFB lasing was achieved in the near IR region (882 -962 nm) with a lasing linewidth of less than 0.2 cm -1 . The lasing threshold was found to be 1.2 mJ, while the slope efficiency with respect to pump energy was found to be as high as 3%.

We report a room temperature tunable color center distributed feedback (DFB) laser using stabilized F2+** centers in LiF (LiF:F2+**) as a gain medium. Tunable oscillation of LiF:F2+** DFB lasing was achieved in the near infrared region (882–962 nm) with a lasing linewidth of less than 0.2 cm−1. Also the lasing threshold and slope efficiency with respect to pump energy were found to be 1.2 mJ and up to 3%, respectively.