Advanced optical concepts are often thought to be out of reach when it comes to an experimental
demonstration for undergraduates and secondary school students. This is not always true. Here, we
discuss the use of a diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) laser based on Nd:YVO 4 /KTP hybrid crystals,
being also at the heart of many green laser pointers, to educate students on multiple modern optical
concepts and applications thereof. This concerns not only nonlinear optics, e.g. second harmonic
generation, but also laser physics and electromagnetic wave phenomena that occur if light interacts
with matter. In this contribution we primarily describe the setup of the simple Nd:YVO 4 /KTP solid
state laser system using hybrid crystals. The setup is integrated into our lab for undergraduates
and school students. We show that various experiments on the topics mentioned above can be performed
with affordable equipment while investigating some basic laser characteristics. By st…