Abstract

Longitudinally pumped geometries have proven to be the optimal design for low to medium power (0.01 W to 1 W) TEM₀₀, diode-pumped, solid-state lasers. Scaling to higher pump levels is thought tobe hindered by the presence of significant thermal gradients in the active medium giving rise to phase aberration of the resonator eigenmode. Initial experimental results appeared to support this conclusion in diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers.^1,2 In this paper we describe experimental results and theoretical models of high-power, end-pumped, Nd:YLF and Nd:YVO₄ lasers that include tire effects of thermally induced aberrations of the eigenmode. The model is in good agreement with experiment, predicting highly efficient fundamental mode operation with close to diffraction limited performance (M² <1.1).

© 1993 Optical Society of America