A simple method to determine the thermal focal length of solid-state lasers with rate equation

A simple method to measure the thermal focal length of solid-state laser with rate equation was presented. By measuring the output beam power of lasers, the beam waist of oscillating wave can be deduced from rate equation under the stable oscillation condition. Based on the ABCD matrix theory, the thermal focus of the gain medium was easily obtained. The thermal focus of a LD end-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser was measured and the experimental results agreed with the theoretical predication.