Abstract
Recently1 we reported experimental evidence of the deleterious effect of amplified spontaneous emission on the performance of a highly doped Nd:glass slab laser. It was shown that the approximate gain-length product value of ≃ 1.85 should not be exceeded if good laser efficiency is desired. While this rule is generally applicable to unloaded lasers it was nevertheless found to be applicable even in normal mode operation. We have investigated this question by calculating the ratio γ of straight-across (surface) gain in a slab laser to that in the zigzag path for Brewster angle slabs with parabolic stored-energy density profiles. We will show that for low ion doping γ < 1, while for large doping γ ≫ 1. The consequences of this result for slab laser operation will be explored.
© 1985 Optical Society of America
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