Measurement of thermal diffractive losses in end-pumped solid-state lasers

A technique based on the analysis of the output power as a function of the output coupler reflectivity is investigated for the determination of pump-induced losses in end-pumped solid-state lasers. The thermal diffractive losses measured for a standard Z-folded resonator are in fair agreement with theoretical predictions. Wavefront distortions as small as 1/63 wavelength (rms) have been measured.