YAG laser end and side pumped by a laser diode

A combined end and side pump approach for a YAG laser pumped by a laser diode is proposed. The theoretical analysis of the total pump efficiency of the end and side pump module is presented. A laser-diode-pumped YAG laser is successfully demonstrated by use of this pump configuration. The experimental pump threshold is 81.2 mJ, the maximum output is 4.4 mJ, and the optical efficiency is approximately 3.1% for Q-switched operation of the YAG laser.