ACTIVE MEDIA: Thermally induced distortions in neodymium glass rod amplifiers

The depolarisation dynamics in a neodymium glass rod laser amplifier is experimentally studied. A method for determining the temperature distribution and the thermally induced phase distortions from the known transverse depolarisation degree distribution is proposed. The experimental results obtained by this method perfectly coincide with the theoretical results even at a strong radial inhomogeneity of the heat release.