EN
Single crystals of SrLaGaO_{4} and SrLaGa_{3}O_{7} singly doped with Nd and codoped with Nd and Yb have been grown by the Czochralski method. Both the compounds form tetragonal crystals but belong to different space groups. A common feature of these matrices is a structural disorder resulting from statistical distribution of Sr^{2+} and La^{3+} ions over the lattice sites. A previous investigation of a laser diode pumped SrLaGa_{3}O_{7}:Nd laser revealed that inhomogeneous broadening of spectral lines of Nd^{3+} was advantageous for optical pumping and did not influence adversely the extraction efficiency. The present paper deals mainly with optical properties of Yb^{3+} ions which are of interest for the design of lasers pumped by a diode laser and operating near 1 μm.