Tm-doped disordered molybdate crystals for ultrashort mode-locked solid state lasers

5 at% Tm-doped NaGd(MoO 4 ) 2 laser crystal operated in CW conditions provided up to 641 mW of output power at λ ≈ 1910 nm with a slope efficiency of 50.8% and a pump power laser threshold of 166 mW. 10 at% Tm-doped Li 3 Ba 2 Lu 3 (MoO 4 ) 8 laser operated in quasi-CW conditions provided up to 510 mW of output power at λ ≈ 1950 nm with a slope efficiency of 71.4% and a pump power laser threshold of 125 mW. Both crystals were grown by the Top Seeded Solution Growth method at about two hundreds degrees below their melting points. The structural disorder of these crystals confers inhomogenous broadening to the Tm 3+ electronic transitions. Slightly broader laser tuning range and laser emission bandwidths are observed in the Li 3 Ba 2 Lu 3 (MoO 4 ) 8 crystal despite of the lower expected degree of crystalline disorder. The crystals are promising for the development of mode locked ultrafast (fs) lasers with emission close to λ = 2 μm.