Experimental manifestations of the smoothing out of thermooptic inhomogeneities in active media of solid-state lasers

Smoothing out of thermooptic inhomogeneities was observed experimentally in optically dense active media. Suppression of a thermooptic lens and an increase in the damage threshold to the active element were observed: these were attributed to the thermal effects of optical pumping, which increased on increase in the optical density of the active medium. The experimental results were in conflict with the traditional views and were explained by the concept of optically dense active media. The smoothing out effect made it possible to explain quite well the experimental observations.