Abstract

Finite Element simulations of different methods for cooling of the pumped rod surface in longitudinal Nd:YAG pumping schemes predicted a superior behavior of the composite rod concept, i.e rods with doped and undoped parts. Due to the undoped pumped end, the surface contribution to the thermal lens caused by rod expansion is almost eliminated. Therefore, also the deviation of the phase front distortion from spherical is significantly reduced, facilitating to compensate for the thermal lens.

© 1996 IEEE