A portable lighting apparatus is provided with a gallium-and-nitrogen containing laser diode based white light source combined with an infrared illumination source which are driven by drivers disposed in a printed circuit board assembly enclosed in a compact housing and powered by a portable power supply therein. The portable lighting apparatus includes a first wavelength converter configured to output a white-color emission and an infrared emission. A beam shaper may be configured to direct the white-color emission and the infrared emission to a front aperture of a compact housing of the portable lighting apparatus. An optical transmitting unit is configured to project or transmit a directional light beam of the white light emission and/or the infrared emission for illuminating a target of interest, transmitting a pulsed sensing signal or modulated data signal generated by the drivers therein. In some configurations, detectors are included for depth sensing and visible/infrared light communications.

Disclosed is a Vernier effect DBR laser that has uniform laser injection current pumping along the length of the laser. The laser can include one or more tuning elements, separate from the laser injection element, and these tuning elements can be used to control the temperature or modal refractive index of one or more sections of the laser. The refractive indices of each diffraction grating can be directly controlled by temperature changes, electro optic effects, or other means through the one or more tuning elements. With direct control of the temperature and/or refractive indices of the diffraction gratings, the uniformly pumped Vernier effect DBR laser can be capable of a wider tuning range. Additionally, uniform pumping of the laser through a single electrode can reduce or eliminate interfacial reflections caused by, for example, gaps between metal contacts atop the laser ridge, which can minimize multi-mode operation and mode hopping.

Device, system, and method of aircraft protection and countermeasures against threats. A system for protecting an aircraft against a threat, includes a dual frequency Radio Frequency (RF) module, which includes: a dual-band RF transmitter and a dual-band RF receiver, to transmit and receive high-band RF signals and low-band RF signals; and a threat confirmation and tracking module, to confirm and track a possible incoming threat based on processing of high-band RF signals and low-band RF signals received by the dual-band RF receiver. The system further includes a dual frequency band antenna, to transmit and receive the high-band RF signals and the low-band RF signals. The system also includes a directed high-power laser transmitter, to activate a directed high-power laser beam as countermeasure towards a precise angular position of a confirmed threat.

The laser module includes a QCL element, a MEMS diffraction grating, a lens holder holding a lens disposed between the QCL element and the MEMS diffraction grating, a package, an electrode terminal disposed along an inner wall surface of the package, and a wire for electrically connecting the electrode terminal and a coil. The top wall of the package faces the bottom wall of the package in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis direction of the lens. The MEMS diffraction grating includes an electrode pad electrically connected to the coil. The electrode pad is connected to the electrode terminal via the wire. A height position of the electrode pad with respect to the bottom wall is equal to or higher than a height position of the electrode terminal with respect to the bottom wall.

An optical device includes a gallium and nitrogen containing substrate comprising a surface region configured in a (20-2-1) orientation, a (30-3-1) orientation, or a (30-31) orientation, within +/−10 degrees toward c-plane and/or a-plane from the orientation. Optical devices having quantum well regions overly the surface region are also disclosed.

According to embodiments of the present invention, a laser source is provided. The laser source includes a photonic crystal structure including a first domain having a plurality of first holes defined therein, the first domain being associated with a first set of Chern numbers, and a second domain having a plurality of second holes defined therein, the second domain being associated with a second set of Chern numbers, wherein the plurality of first holes and the plurality of second holes are arranged to define an interface region between the first domain and the second domain, the interface region defining an optical cavity for lasing. According to further embodiments of the present invention, a method for forming a laser source is also provided.

A monolithic QCL/APD IR Transceiver in which the QCL transmitter and APD receiver have the same N MQW stage composition and variation in thickness in the z direction for all positions in x and y directions. The heterostructure is configured via asymmetric stages, additional stages for the APD or by reversing the polarity of the p-n junction for the APD or a combination thereof such that the upper energy state in the QCL under forward bias is confined to the quantum well and in the APD under reverse bias is near the top of the quantum well in energy and localized in the quantum well to spatially overlap with the lower energy state to facilitate detection of echo photons. The QCL and APD may be positioned end-to-end, side-by-side or as a common region of the heterostructure.

The laser module includes a QCL element, a MEMS diffraction grating, a lens holder for holding a lens disposed between the QCL element and the MEMS diffraction grating, and a package. The package includes a bottom wall, a side wall erected on the bottom wall and formed in an annular shape so as to surround a region in which the QCL element is accommodated, and a top wall closing an opening of the side wall on a side opposite to a side where the bottom wall is disposed. The top wall faces the bottom wall in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis direction of the lens, and the distance between the top wall and a surface of the lens holder on a side where the top wall is disposed is smaller than a thickness of the lens holder along the optical axis direction of the lens.

The laser module includes a QCL element, a MEMS diffraction grating, a first lens holder disposed on a side opposite to a side on which the MEMS diffraction grating is disposed with respect to the QCL element, a second lens holder disposed between the QCL element and the MEMS diffraction grating, a package, an electrode terminal disposed along an inner wall surface of the package, and a wire for electrically connecting the electrode terminal and the QCL element. An end portion of the wire on a side where the QCL element is disposed is disposed at a position between the first lens holder and the second lens holder when viewed from a direction orthogonal to a facing direction in which the first lens holder and the second lens holder face each other.

A tunable laser has a solid state laser medium with optical gain region and generates coherent radiation through a facet. A lens collects the coherent radiation and generates a collimated light beam. An external cavity includes a reflective surface and an optical filter, the reflective surface reflecting the collimated beam back to the lens and laser medium, the optical filter positioned between the reflective surface and the lens and having two surfaces and a thermally tunable optical transmission band within the optical gain region of the laser medium. The optical filter (1) transmits a predominant portion of the collimated beam at a desired wavelength of operation, and (2) specularly reflects a remaining portion of the collimated beam from each surface, the collimated beam being incident on the optical filter such that the reflected collimated beams propagate at a non-zero angle with respect to the incident collimated beam.