Abstract
We report on bulk optical refrigeration of Yb:YLF crystal to a temperature of , starting from the ambient. This is achieved by pumping the E4-E5 Stark multiplet transition at . A lower temperature of () with available cooling power of 18 mW is attained when the temperature of the surrounding crystal is reduced to 210 K. This result is within only a few degrees of the minimum achievable temperature of our crystal and signifies the bulk solid-state laser cooling below the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-defined cryogenic temperature of 123 K.
© 2013 Optical Society of America
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