Quantitative measurement of thermal lensing in diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser by use of digital holographic interferometry.

Thermal lensing in diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser has been measured quantitatively using digital holographic interferometry. A series of holograms, carrying the information of the laser rod under different pump currents, are recorded with a CCD and reconstructed numerically. The optical path difference induced by the thermal lensing and the corresponding evolution process under different currents are obtained accordingly.