Efficient Nd:YAG laser end pumped by a high-power multistripe laser-diode bar with multiprism array coupling

A 10-W laser-diode bar, a multistripe monolithic laser-diode array, has been used to end pump Nd:YAG. Twelve beams emitted from 12 stripes, spaced 800 mu m apart, of a 1-cm linear diode array were collimated with a multiprism array consisting of 14 prismlets with 800-mu m width to pump the Nd:YAG facet. The maximum Nd:YAG cw output power at 1064 nm of 3 W was obtained at 10-W laser-diode-bar power with a slope efficiency of 35%, and a TEM(00) spatial mode with values of beam-quality factor M(2) Of 1.29 and 1.76 in the planes perpendicular and parallel to the junction, respectively. A pulse width of 25.2 ns (1-kHz repetition) was obtained in acousto-optic Q-switched operation. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America