Optical cooling using anti‐Stokes fluorescence in solids and liquids appears to have several advantages over more conventional techniques. It has been the topic of recent analysis and experimental work by numerous organizations. Isolated samples of Yb:ZBLAN glass are reported to have been cooled as much as 65 K below ambient temperature. In this paper, we report the first demonstration of an optical refrigerator, which we define as a device that cools an attached opaque load using light as the energy source. In previous papers, we discussed the problem of thermally connecting the optical cooling element to the load without having the load heated by absorbed fluorescence. We have devised a solution to this problem and incorporated the solution into our laboratory optical refrigerator. Performance data on this refrigerator is presented.