Eye-safe 1.5～1.6 μm lasers have important applications in optical fiber communi- cation, medicine, laser-range-finding, lidar, etc. Er3+ and Yb3+ co-doped crystal pumped by diode laser around 976 nm is an attractive method for obtaining 1.5～1.6 μm laser in compact device with high output beam quality. In this paper, the recent research and progress of several important Er3+ and Yb3+ co-doped laser crystals at 1.5～1.6 μm in authors’ lab are reported.
