A diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) has been regarded as one of the most potential candidates to achieve high power performances of next generation. In this paper, we investigate the physical properties of a rubidium cell side-pumped by a Laser-Diode-Array (LDA) in this study. As the saturated concentration of a gain medium inside a vapor cell is extremely sensitive to the temperature, the populations of every energy-level of the atomic alkali are strongly relying on the vapor temperature. Thus, the absorption characteristics of a DPAL are mainly dominated by the temperature distribution. In this paper, the temperature, absorption, and lasing distributions in the cross-section of a rubidium cell side-pumped by a LDA are obtained by means of a complicated mathematic procedure. Based on the original end-pumped mode we constructed before, a novel one-direction side-pumped theoretical mode has been established to explore the distribution properties in the transverse section of a rubidium vapor cell by combining the procedures of heat transfer and laser kinetics together. It has been thought the results might be helpful for design of a side-pumped configuration in a high-powered DPAL.
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