Abstract

There has been considerable interest recently in the development and demonstration of simple, compact, rugged and efficient diode-pumped lasers in the few mJ regime. Many applications cxist for high peak-power, short pulse and efficient lasers. NASA's spacebourn altimetry applications require < 4 ns pulses with good beam quality produced in a rugged and efficient laser. Efficicnt generation of high peak power pulses with good beam quality fi-om diode pumped systems has proved to be challenging mainly due to the non-ideal beam properties of diode laser bars, both cw and quasi-cw. Diode bars do not lend themselves to ideal end-pumping due to their highly asymmetric beam.

© 1995 Optical Society of America