Near-diffraction-limited, high peak power, electro-optically Q-switched, diode-side-pumped Nd:YVO4 grazing-incidence oscillator

•We elaborated Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with grazing-incidence bounce geometry.•We achieved near-diffraction-limited output with beam quality parameter M2 = 1.25.•Pulse energy of 8.5 mJ with 8 ns pulse duration and 50 Hz rate was achieved.

Actively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with grazing-incidence bounce geometry, side pumped with 2D laser diode matrix was elaborated. Because of extremely high gain-length product obtained in that configuration, a BBO Pockels cell was applied for Q-switching regime. A near-diffraction-limited beam with parameter M2=1.25 was achieved. The generated output pulse energy of 8.5 mJ and 8 ns pulse duration at 50 Hz repetition rate was demonstrated.