The diode pump light efficiently absorbed using the proprietary design. We measured the divergence of the diode array and used it in the code for our calculations. The geometry was optimized for efficient absorption. The source distribution was mapped. Our results predicted a very efficient laser of high output power.
Experiments are presently ongoing with the first generation prototype.
There is a trade off to be made between pumping efficiency and pumping homogeneity. Ongoing experiments address this issue.