Design and laser performance of diode-laser side-pumped Nd:YAG lasers operating at high output powers

Diode-pumped solid-state lasers are attractive sources for various applications in materials processing and laser-based metrology. These laser systems are reliable and highly efficient. Furthermore their operational lifetime is in the range of several ten of thousands of hours. In the low-power regime, the longitudinal pump geometry is applied,1 but power-scaling possibilities of end-pumped configurations are limited because of the thinduced stress fracture of the laser materials.2 By applying the transverse pump geometry output powers beyond 100 W can be realized.3