Investigations of optical and laser performance of diode side pumped Nd:YAG laser

The diode side pumped lasers heads for rod and slab active elements were elaborated and characterized under real pumping conditions. Model of side pumped laser elements of rod or slab shape enabling estimation of overlapping efficiency and threshold was developed. It was shown in experiments that the optical performance for both types of heads is delimited by transversal, asymmetrical thermal gradients resulting in high level of depolarization and diffraction losses. The fundamental mode limit is about 20 W per 1 cm for a head side pumped by single diode bar.