We study the effect of the pumping beam focus position on the output of an end-pumping diode laser-pumped solid state laser by calculating the changes in the overlap of the intensity distribution functions of the pump and the oscillating beams. It is shown that the output power is strongly pump position dependent, and the optimized pumping position is a function of the pump beam and the oscillation mode spot sizes. Our experimental results agree well with our theoretical predictions. (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
