A problem with a conventional waveguide type laser device is that in the case in which an isotropic laser medium is used for a core, linearly polarized light is not provided. A ridge waveguide laser device of the present disclosure includes: a substrate; a core joined to the substrate and having a laser medium, the core having a refractive index higher than that of the substrate; and a cladding joined to the core, constituting a ridge waveguide together with the core, and made from a birefringent material having ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices lower than the refractive index of the core, the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices being different.

An amplification waveguide device and an amplification beam steering apparatus are provided. The amplification beam steering apparatus includes a beam steerer configured to control emission directions of light beams output therefrom, a plurality of waveguides configured to guide the light beams output from the beam steerer, and a light amplifier configured to amplify the light beams traveling through the plurality of waveguides.

One illustrative laser disclosed herein includes a gain medium layer having a first width in a transverse direction that is orthogonal to a laser emitting direction of the laser, and an upper light-confining structure positioned above an upper surface of the gain medium layer, wherein the upper light-confining structure has a second width in the transverse direction that is equal to or less than the first width and comprises at least one material having an index of refraction that is at least 2.0. The laser also includes a lower light-confining structure positioned below a lower surface of the gain medium layer, wherein the lower light-confining structure has a third width in the transverse direction that is equal to or less than the first width and comprises at least one material having an index of refraction that is at least 2.0.

A laser light source apparatus includes a laser diode, a first optical assembly having one or more lenses for generating a collimated laser beam from light emitted by the laser diode, a doped microstructured glass block configured to generate laser emissions at at least a first wavelength and a second wavelength when pumped by the collimated laser beam, an input beam lens for focusing the collimated laser beam onto an input surface of the microstructured glass block, an optical alignment assembly, an output light guiding assembly, and a housing for containing and supporting the optical alignment assembly and the output light guiding assembly.

A ring optical resonator is formed on a substrate. An outer circumferential surface of the resonator substantially confines one or more circumferential resonant optical modes. The resonator is positioned above a void formed in the substrate and is supported above the void by a portion of a material layer on the substrate that extends radially inward above the void from an outer circumferential edge of the void to the outer circumferential surface of the resonator. An optical waveguide can be integrally formed on the substrate and traverses a portion of the material layer above the void. The optical waveguide and the ring optical resonator are arranged and positioned so as to establish evanescent optical coupling between them. Q-factors of 10.sup.8 or more have been achieved with a silica resonator and silicon nitride waveguide integrally formed on a silicon substrate.

A problem with a conventional waveguide type laser device is that in the case in which an isotropic laser medium is used for a core, linearly polarized light is not provided. A ridge waveguide laser device of the present disclosure includes: a substrate; a core joined to the substrate and having a laser medium, the core having a refractive index higher than that of the substrate; and a cladding joined to the core, constituting a ridge waveguide together with the core, and made from a birefringent material having ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices lower than the refractive index of the core, the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices being different.

A photonic molecule laser is described that includes a photonic molecule waveguide coupled to a photonic molecule seeding source configured to deliver a plurality of photonic molecules. The photonic molecule waveguide includes a second dopant maintained at a population inverted state with an energy level transition corresponding to a second frequency that is an N-fold multiple of a first frequency and amplifies the number of photonic molecules via stimulated emission. The photonic molecule seeding source includes a waveguide with a first dopant maintained at a population inverted state with an energy level transition corresponding to the first frequency. A pump source is coupled to the waveguide configured to deliver a first frequency laser pulse with pulse coherence time less than the photonic molecules correlation time. Each photonic molecule includes a threshold bound state of N first frequency photons, and each photonic molecule has the second frequency.

An example method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. A first wafer may be provided that includes a first layer that contains quantum dots. A second wafer may be provided that includes a buried dielectric layer and a second layer on the buried dielectric layer. An interface layer may be formed on at least one of the first layer and the second layer, where the interface layer may be an insulator, a transparent electrical conductor, or a polymer. The first wafer may be bonded to the second wafer by way of the interface layer.

Aspects of the present application are related to an Er-doped waveguide amplifier (EDWA) structure integrated in an uncooled silicon photonic transceiver and methods for fabricating the same. In some embodiments, the structure comprises three layers of waveguides: silicon, silicon nitride and Er-doped dielectric. The three layers of waveguides are integrated with an uncooled 980-nm pump laser. In some embodiments, the Er-doped dielectric waveguides are fully etched.

A light steering apparatus is provided including a tunable laser source and a system including the light steering apparatus. The light steering apparatus includes the tunable laser source and a steering device. A plurality of laser beams having optical coherence with each other and output from the tunable laser source are incident onto the steering device, and the steering device includes a plurality of modulation units for beam steering.