Development of a CW tunable Yb:CaF2 laser

High power continuous-wave operation of a diode-pumped Yb:CaF2 laser was investigated. The laser generated 9.6 W of output power for 20.2 W of incident pump power. The wavelength tuning range of the laser was also measured by using a birefringent filter and laser operation from 1011 m to 1071 nm was obtained at room temperature. These results indicate the potential of generating high power ultrashort pulses or multi-wavelength radiation.