W A Clarkson 2001 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34 2381 doi:10.1088/0022-3727/34/16/302
W A Clarkson
Show affiliationsDegradation in beam quality due to aberrated thermal lensing and depolarization loss due to stress induced birefringence in end-pumped edge-cooled solid-state lasers are investigated. A simple model for the dependence of thermal lensing and degradation in beam quality on the transverse intensity profile of the pump beam is presented. Experimental measurements of thermal lensing, degradation in beam quality and depolarization loss in a diode-bar-end-pumped Nd:YAG rod support the main predictions of the model and, in addition, show that there can be significant extra heating under non-lasing conditions compared to lasing conditions. The role of energy transfer upconversion as a mechanism for additional heat loading under non-lasing conditions is considered. Finally, various strategies for limiting the impact of thermal lensing and thermally induced birefringence on laser performance in simple end-pumped cavity configurations are reviewed.
42.55.Rz Doped-insulator lasers and other solid state lasers
78.20.Nv Thermooptical and photothermal effects
42.60.Jf Beam characteristics: profile, intensity, and power; spatial pattern formation
42.60.Da Resonators, cavities, amplifiers, arrays, and rings
42.60.Lh Efficiency, stability, gain, and other operational parameters
Issue 16 (21 August 2001)
Received 2 April 2001
Published 7 August 2001
W A Clarkson 2001 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34 2381
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