Abstract: In order to calculate the accurate temperature distribution of a side-pumping laser rod,a nonuniform heat generation model of quasi-gaussian profile is proposed.Approximate analytical expression of the temperature distribution of the laser rod is derived.This model is more practical than the uniform model reported before and it can meet a wide situation of the diode side-pumped laser system.With this model,the thermal stress,thermal lens,and other thermal effects in a laser rod can be easily calculated.