End-pumped Nd:YAG laser with self-adaptive compensation of the thermal lens

Thermally induced lenses are the most critical problem in the development of high-power solid-state lasers. To compensate for thermal lenses, we have been investigating self-adaptive compensation methods based on thermal effects themselves. Recently, we demonstrated a novel compensation scheme for transversally pumped lasers. This scheme has now been adapted to an end-pumped laser system. The reduction of the thermal lens has been simulated and measured experimentally. The experiments were carried out with a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with a maximum output power of 15.6 W.