Modeling of longitudinally pumped solid-state lasers exhibiting reabsorption losses

Abstract

Many solid-state lasers of current interest exhibit reabsorption loss. Previous modeling calculations of laser performance with longitudinal pumping either have neglected reabsorption loss or have been valid only for certain special cases of the ratio of the pump- and laser-beam waists. Rigorous numerical modeling calculations have been carried out to provide a comprehensive understanding of the behavior of longitudinally pumped solid-state lasers, including reabsorption loss and for arbitrary sizes of the pump- and laser-beam waists. In addition, certain aspects of laser behavior that have traditionally not been discussed in papers on laser modeling, such as clamping, saturation, and spatial distribution of the population-inversion density, are investigated to provide a general understanding of laser performance. The results are applied to a particular solid-state laser of current practical interest, the 946-nm Nd:YAG laser. © 1988, Optical Society of America.