(F_2^+)H Color-center laser operation in NaCl:OH with simultaneous 106- and 053-μm pumping

We have operated an (F(2)(+))(H) color-center laser in NaCl:OH using a 1.06-microm pump laser with a collinear auxiliary beam at 0.53 microm. The auxiliary beam is produced by frequency doubling a small fraction of the pump beam instead of using an arc lamp, as was previously reported. With a grating tuner, the laser tuned from 1.47 to 1 .8 7 microm and produced up to 760 mW of output power. In single-frequency operation, powers up to 460 mW with a linewidth <2 MHz were achievable. The laser also produced 480 mW of power in cw mode-locked operation with transform-limited pulses as short as 5 psec.