The combination of our unique capabilities at LLNL in diode development, crystal growth, and system designs have allowed us to pursue a variety of research areas of interest to the commercial, medical, and defense industries. We have developed a flexible diode pumping technology which utilizes low cost silicon microchannel coolers to enable high average power diode operation and a shaped cylindrical microlens technology which allows the radiance conditioning of large two- dimensional laser diode arrays. The flexibility that this diode technology has brought to pump power generation in both average power and radiance have broadly expanded the number of ion-host combinations that can be efficiently excited and used in diode pumped solid state lasers. Some of our laser developments are briefly discussed.