Abstract

A novel laser resonator capable of producing a strongly elliptic TEM₀₀ mode in the gain medium is analyzed. Careful design results in an axially symmetric output beam, while the squeezed mode volume in the active medium allows an optimum exploitation of the inversion generated by end pumping the laser with a high-power laser-diode array. When a single array is used, the pump threshold can be typically reduced by an order of magnitude as compared with conventional (circular-mode) end-pumped systems without compromising any other laser characteristics. The combination of the presented cavity design with geometric multiplexing of diode arrays provides an efficient means for scaling end-pumped lasers to high powers.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

Efficient, 15-W output power, diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser

S. C. Tidwell, J. F. Seamans, C. E. Hamilton, C. H. Muller, and D. D. Lowenthal
Opt. Lett. 16(8) 584-586 (1991)

Continuous-wave operation of a diode-pumped rotating Nd:glass disk laser

J. Korn, T. H. Jeys, and T. Y. Fan
Opt. Lett. 16(22) 1741-1743 (1991)

High-power Nd:YAG laser end pumped by a cw, 10 mm × 1 μm aperture, 10-W laser-diode bar

D. C. Shannon and R. W. Wallace
Opt. Lett. 16(5) 318-320 (1991)

Mode locking of a diode-laser-pumped Nd:glass laser by frequency modulation

D. W. Hughes, J. R. M. Barr, and D. C. Hanna
Opt. Lett. 16(3) 147-149 (1991)

Synchronously pumped continuous-wave dye laser pumped by a mode-locked frequency-doubled diode-pumped Nd:YLF laser

G. P. A. Malcolm and A. I. Ferguson
Opt. Lett. 16(11) 814-816 (1991)