Beam Pointing Instability of High-Power End-Pumped 1064 nm ND:YAG Laser

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a numerical calculation model, which considers thermal and gain distribution instabilities and inhomogeneities, for analyzing beam pointing instability in Nd :YAG solid-state lasers. Disturbance factors are defined for pumping power and pumping field, representing their degrees of disturbance. We discuss a numerical example to calculate the beam pointing instability for a positive branch confocal unstable resonator. Subsequently, an optimization design method is discussed for minimizing beam pointing fluctuation in a resonant cavity. This method incorporates considerations of thermal and gain distribution instabilities and inhomogeneities, thus offering a straightforward design approach with broad applicability.