Nd:YAG laser side pumped by diode laser arrays

摘要

The major limitation of flashlamp-pumped solid-state lasers is the low overall efficiency. Replacing flashlamps with high power laser diodes allows an increase of system efficiency by over an order of magnitude. Because of the thermally induced stress fracture of the laser materials, power-scaling possibilities of end-pumped configurations are limited. Therefore side pump geometry has to be used for high power laser. The theory and the design of high power diode side-pumped Nd:YAG laser system is described. The Nd:YAG rod is side-pumped by diode laser arrays with wavelength at 808 nm. We analyze the result of our experiments and make some conclusions about the design of side-pumped laser.