Continuous-wave operation of the KBr:CN^− solid-state vibration laser in the 5-μm region

Abstract
Continuous-wave lasing has been obtained on the 2 → 1 vibrational transition of impurity CN− ions in KBr. Population inversion is produced by optical pumping of the weakly allowed first-overtone level of the molecule with a tunable (F2+)A color-center laser.