介绍了一种激光二极管叠阵（LDA）侧面Zigzag泵浦多边形薄片激光放大器构型，采用三维光线追迹方法进行了详细的模拟仿真，优化设计了此放大器系统的泵浦耦合结构，主要研究了多边形增益介质的掺杂离子浓度与侧面切角对介质内部泵浦光分布的影响。在晶体厚度1.5 mm、端面口径16 mm的条件下，侧面切角在35°～65°，Nd³⁺掺杂浓度为0.20 at.%～0.30 at.%时，模拟仿真中Nd：YAG多边形薄片对泵浦光的吸收分布较均匀，泵浦光分布均匀性均优于0.1，同时在实验中得到了平顶的荧光分布和增益分布。介质内储能的均匀平顶分布有利于实现高功率高光束质量的激光输出，为侧面Zigzag泵浦多边形薄片激光器系统的设计与进一步实验提供了重要参考。

A laser diode array side-pumped Nd:glass square rod amplifier of the dimensions 12 mm×12 mm is designed. The fluorescence is evenly distributed in the Nd:glass amplifier. When the pump power is 66.32 kW, the small signal gain increases by 3.23 times. Under the condition of a 1 Hz repetition frequency, 50 mJ of injected seed-light energy, and a 10 mm×10 mm aperture, the output energy of the laser beam can reach 1.62 J during the four-pass amplification. The output energy stability of the laser pulse is 2.94% (RMS), and the square pulse distortion is smaller than 2. The energy amplification of the injected laser beam from millijoules to joules is realized.

To obtain a laser output with a high-quality beam and a square, super-Gaussian, flat-top distribution, a high-energy laser needs to conduct spatial reshaping of the geometric outline of an injected Gaussian laser pulse and the non-uniform gain of multi-level energy amplification units. A digital micro-mirror device is very suitable for a working environment that has a high electromagnetic interference in a high-energy laser system. We present an algorithm and an experiment of spatial beam shaping that is based on the use of a digital micro-mirror device. Through secondary shaping, the near-field modulation degree of the beam (the ratio of the maximum value of the light intensity to the average value) decreases from 1.79∶1 (after primary shaping) to 1.24∶1, an improvement of 30.7%. The energy loss is 32.9%. Meanwhile, the beam after secondary shaping possesses extremely strong stability. Under the condition where the input-shaping aperture remains unchanged, the dispersity of the near-field modulation degree of the output beam is only 1.6%. Thus, the influences of the environmental changes and the random distribution of the “noise” in the beam intensity distribution are reduced.