Theoretical study on the temperature characteristics of LD side-pumped Nd：YAG laser slab

The temperature distribution of LD pumped Nd:YAG laser slab is calculated by using finite difference method.The calculated results show that the temperature distribution is related to the cooling structure and in agreement with the measured distribution attained by IR camera.By improving the cooling structure ,the M2 of laser beam is reduced from 6.7 to 3 with better temperature distribution.