A novel orthogonaUy linearly polarized Nd：YVO4 laser

We presented a novel orthogonally linearly polarized Nd：YVO4 laser. Two pieces of a-cut grown-together composite YVO4/Nd：YVO4 crystals were placed in the resonant cavity with the c-axis of the two crystals orthogonally. The polarization and power performance of the orthogonally polarized laser were investigated. A 26.2-W orthogonally linearly polarized laser was obtained. The power ratio between the two orthogonally polarized lasers was varied with the pump power caused by the polarized mode coupling. The longitudinal modes competition and the corresponding variable optical beats were also observed from the orthogonally polarized laser. We also adjusted the crystals with their c-axis parallele to each other, and a 40.7-W linearly polarized TEM00 laser was obtained, and the beam quality factors were Mx^2 = 1.37 and My^2 = 1.25.