Gain shaping and beam quality in diode-laser multiarray side-pumped solid-state lasers

Based on measured single diode-array side-pumped rod fluorescent profiles, the authors evaluate a package of 12 circumferentially mounted elements of two in-line monolithic linear arrays, which pump 20 mm of a 25-mm-long Nd:YAG. The stored energy and transverse profiles depend on how the emitted pumping cones are coupled into the rod and influence the energy extraction and the beam quality. A special pumping geometry is investigated, and its performances are studied by a numerical simulation for three Nd:YAG loaded resonator configurations. >