Gain saturation in phosphate laser glasses

Saturation of gain at 1053 nm was studied in seven Nd:doped phosphate glasses. Values of saturation fluence measured with 1.4-ns pulses were slightly less than those measured with 20-ns pulses. At both pulse lengths, saturation fluence increased with output fluence. For the seven glasses, the product of saturation fluence and gain cross section was constant to within ±6 percent.