  Novel thin-disk laser pump layouts are proposed yielding an increased number
of passes for a given pump module size and pump source quality. These novel
layouts result from a general scheme which bases on merging two simpler pump
optics arrangements. Some peculiar examples can be realized by adapting
standard commercially available pump optics simply by intro ducing an
additional mirror-pair. More pump passes yield better efficiency, opening the
way for usage of active materials with low absorption. In a standard multi-pass
pump design, scaling of the number of beam passes brings ab out an increase of
the overall size of the optical arrangement or an increase of the pump source
quality requirements. Such increases are minimized in our scheme, making them
eligible for industrial applications
