Mode-controlling in a 7.5 cm long, transversally pumped, high power Nd: YVO4 laser

A side pumped Nd: YVO4 laser with a very compact, 7.5 cm long resonator is presented. In single pass configuration this cavity provides 74% slope efficiency and 22 W output power in multimode operation. With a second pass through the gain media, using a double bounce configuration, this short and simple cavity results in 17 W and a large improvement in beam quality with an M-2 of 1.7 x 1.4 in the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. A theoretical, experimental and numerical analysis of this double bounce configuration is made.