Abstract

A novel method for the determination of the stimulated-emission cross section in an end-pumped solid-state laser is presented. The technique is based on the fact that increasing intracavity laser intensity stimulates faster decay of excited atoms and reduces the saturation of pump absorption. The use of this laser-induced pump saturation method is demonstrated with experimental data collected from a ${\mathrm{Cr}}^{4+}:\mathrm{YAG}$ laser and analyzed by use of a numerical model that calculates the change in the pump transmission as a function of the intracavity laser intensity. The predicted cross-section value of $1.1\times {10}^{-19} {\mathrm{cm}}^2$ agrees well with previously reported results.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

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