Divergent laser beam and imperfect cuts

Yep, looks like you have a bad tube. You should make a similar density mark before m1 (mirror 1) to ensure the tube is resonating or in TEM00 mode.

That looks like your issue from the first photo… that is more like TEM01, which will never work correctly… has to be TEM00 mode…

See if this thread helps…

:smile_cat: