In this paper we report on work, using both cooled

and room-temperature incoherent GaAs
1-xP
xdiodes (obtained from Texas Instruments, Inc.), that demonstrates the feasibility of obtaining room-temperature CW operation of a YAG:Nd laser with presently available diodes. Measurements have been made with diodes emitting at 0.81 µm that are coupled to a YAG:Nd laser rod by a semi-elliptic cylindrical reflector. The reasons for this choice of coupling geometry will be discussed together with some other possibilities.