Abstract
This paper describes the thermal effect at Nd:YAG using a laser-diode side-pumping. To detect the depolarization loss and the retardation caused by the thermal effect, a λ/4 plate is inserted between the polarizer and the Nd:YAG laser material. Using a CCD has allowed detection of the variation of the beam pattern that could analyze the change of the refractive index of the Nd:YAG laser material by the thermal effect. Through the change of the probe beam power, we know that 21% of the pumping power was converted into heat in the material. The depolarization loss was 24.7% under a temperature of $25^{\circ}C$ of the laser material and a pumping power of 15 W. The inhomogeneous distribution showed that the retardation angle was 7$^{\circ}$ in the center of the material and 19$^{\circ}$ on the edge of it. It is confirmed that the thermal effect is analyzed at the each point of the laser material and it suggests an effective method to reduce the thermal effect on the LD side-pumped laser material.
반도체 레이저 측면 여기시 Nd:YAG 레이저 매질에서 발생하는 열영향에 대해 분석하였다. 열영향을 고감도로 측정하기 위해 편광자와 Nd:YAG 매질 사이에 λ/4판을 삽입하여 여기 파워에 따라 발생하는 depolarization양을 측정하였다. CCD로 는 열영향에 의한 매질 내에서의 탐침광 분포 변화를 측정하고 해석하여 반도체 레이저 측면 여기시 발생하는 열영향을 최소화하기 위한 공진기 설계의 효과적인 방법을 제시하였다.
