Experimental manifestations of the effect of the smoothing of thermooptical inhomogeneities in the active media of solid-state lasers

Experimental studies of the effect of the smoothing of thermooptical inhomogeneities in optically dense active media are presented. The suppression of a thermooptic lens and a rise in the threshold of the active element damage (which is due to the thermal action of the optical pump) was found with a growth in the active media optical density. These experimental results are explained within the framework of the concept of the optically dense active media.