Recent developments in tunable Cr doped garnet lasers

The garnets with low crystal field strength at the Cr site whose performance is presently evaluated can lase at 300 K (room temperature) under either CW or pulsed conditions and over a spectral range of 700-950 nm. Attention is given to the cavity apparatus used in the present tuning experiments with a Cr(3+):GSGG laser crystal. A GSAG crystal was also tested and found to yield efficiencies of up to 18.5 percent with krypton laser pumping. Cr(3+):GSGG has a tuning range from 742 to 842 nm.