Side-pumped crystalline Raman laser.

A crystalline Raman laser is pumped at 90° to the Raman laser axis by a single pass from a line-focused 532 nm pump laser of pulse duration 10 ns. The Raman laser threshold was 6.1 mJ, and at 12 mJ pump energy, a maximum output energy of 2.7 mJ was obtained with a slope efficiency of 46%. The threshold pump intensity is within a factor of 2 of the same device when end-pumped. The results highlight significant potential for coherent beam conversion and combination with enhanced degrees of flexibility and increased power.