Pump light distribution in a laser rod pumped exfocally in a rotational ellipsoid

In a rotational ellipsoidal exfocal pumping system the linear lamp is arranged between vertex and nearest focus, and the laser rod is aligned between the second focus and the other vertex along the major axis of a rotational ellipsoidal mirror. For this optical pumping system, a calculation of the pump light distribution in the laser rod was performed on a computer by use of a ray tracing procedure. The calculations take account of reflection losses, multiple reflections, and shadowing at the end faces of the laser rod and the lamp. A series of diagrams presents the results of the computer calculations, which are also compared with experimental results.