Model of pulsed Nd:GSAG laser at 942 nm considering rate equations with cavity structure

Abstract

The laser resonator structure and beam diameter change with the pump power due to the thermal lens effect. This influences the output power. With increasing pump power, the output power sharply decreases when the cavity becomes unstable. In order to describe this situation, rate equations considering the cavity structure and the thermal lens effect are presented; numerical methods are used to solve them. This modeling can be used in repetitively pulsed laser systems when the thermal lens depends on the average pump power, while the peak value of the output power and pump power are considered by the rate equations. Experiments are performed with 50 Hz LD diode pumped Nd:GSAG laser crystal operating at the quasi-three-level laser transition with 942 nm wavelength. Fitting the calculated results to experimental data allows to determine the cavity loss.