Experimental study of a high-power CW side-pumped Nd:YAG laser

The paper reports on the characterization of a side-pumped 40 W CW Nd:YAG laser. A side-pumping configuration with six laser diodes is used for the laser. We show the comparison between the calculated and measured pump energy distributions in the laser crystal. The birefringence and the thermal lens effect of the Nd:YAG crystal have been experimentally investigated, and their influence on the performance of the laser are discussed. Output power and beam quality of the laser under different output couplings, cavity lengths, types of cavity and different temperatures of the cooling water have been experimentally studied.