Simulation of thermal lensing in an end-pumped ND:YAG laser rod with gaussian and super-gaussian pump beam profile

Abstract EN

A numerical simulation is made on the thermal lensing effect in an laser diode end-pumped Nd : YAG laser rod.

Based on finite element method (FEM), the laser rod temperature distribution is calculated and the focal length is deduced for a Gaussian and super-Gaussian pump beam profiles.

At the pump power of 20W, the highest temperature located at the center of end-pumped face was 345K, and the thermal lens focal length was 81.4mm along the x-z axis.

The results indicate that the thermal lensing effect sensitively depend on the pump power, waist radius of the pump beam and the pump distribution in a laser rod geometry.