High average power cw face pumping of a Nd:YAG planar waveguide laser with diode bars

Summary form only. Face pumped planar waveguide lasers can be efficiently power scaled by increasing the area of the waveguide proportionately with the number of diode laser pumps. High gain can be achieved and thermal fracture, lensing and birefringence problems are reduced significantly when compared to side-pumped rod lasers or thicker slab designs.