Fiber coupled diode pumped moving solid state laser

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What is claimed is: 1.
In a method for generating an output beam of coherent lasant radiation, the steps of: coupling the output of a plurality of individual diode sources which form optical pumping radiation, into a fiber optic waveguide structure; guiding and concentrating said output through the fiber optic waveguide structure to and thence into a selectively pumped region of a structure of laser gain material for illuminating and for optically pumping of the selected region of the laser gain material, said region being only a part of said structure; stimulating emission of coherent lasant radiation from the illuminated and selectively optically pumped region of said laser gain material to produce an output beam of coherent lasant radiation; and imparting cyclical relative motion to said structure relative to said region to cyclically move said selectively pumped region relative to the remainder of said gain material so as to distribute the heat generated in said laser gain material by said optical pumping radiation throughout said lasant material to inhibit thermally induced birefringence and gain non-uniformity effects on said output beam.
2.
The method of claim 1 including, the step of: controlling the temperature of said diode sources selectively for tuning the optical pumping wavelength to an absorption wavelength of the laser gain material for enhancing the optical pumping efficiency.
3.
The method of claim 1 including, the steps of: geometrically shaping said structure of laser gain material to have a pair of relatively broad mutually opposed faces spaced apart by a relatively narrow side face; internally reflecting the stimulated emission of coherent lasant radiation as a beam to-and-fro between the opposed broad faces along a zig-zag beam path; and directing the optical pumping radiation emanating from said diode sources and as guided by said fiber optic waveguide structure into said structure of lasant material through at least one of said broad faces of said structure of lasant material