Self-interaction of the radiation field of a cw solid-state laser

An experimental study was made of the self-interaction of the radiation field of a high-power cw YAG:Nd³⁺ laser. The dependence of the output power on the pump power exhibited a hysteresis. The output power of single-mode radiation was 56 W and the corresponding efficiency was 1.1%. Orientation of the active element in an elliptic illumination enclosure made it possible to generate linearly polarized radiation without additional selective components.