Cladding-pumped fiber laser with tapered pump recycler

A cladding-pumped fiber laser with pump recycling, comprising:

• a fiber-optic laser resonator including:
• a gain fiber having (a) an active core to generate and guide signal laser light and (b) surrounding the active core, a cladding to guide pump laser light,
• a fiber-optic end mirror coupled to the gain fiber, the fiber-optic end mirror being reflective to the signal laser light and transmissive to the pump laser light,
• a fiber-optic output coupler to couple a portion of the signal laser light out of the laser resonator, the gain fiber coupled between the fiber-optic end mirror and the fiber-optic output coupler, and
• a pump combiner to couple the pump laser light into the gain fiber;
• and
• a tapered rod to recycle residual pump laser light not absorbed by the gain fiber, the tapered rod including:
• a proximal end arranged to receive the residual pump laser light from the gain fiber via the fiber-optic end mirror, and
• a distal end, opposite the proximal end, having a reflective coating to at least partly reflect the residual pump laser light in a direction back towards the gain fiber;
• wherein a transverse cross-sectional area of the tapered rod adiabatically increases from a smaller transverse cross-sectional area at the proximal end to a larger transverse cross-sectional area at the distal end.