Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Yojiro Watanabe

Takayuki Yanagisawa

Takeshi Sakimura

Kohei Sakai

Fumio Shohda

Yukari Takada

Fumio Shoda

Takuya Takasaki

Yuhi Kono

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.

Ridge waveguide laser device

In a planar waveguide laser device (), a substrate () is joined to the upper surface of a waveguide (). A recess () having a chamfered shape is formed along an edge of an end facet of the substrate () on the side of the waveguide (), the end facet being perpendicular to the direction of laser oscillation. An end facet of the waveguide () perpendicular to the oscillation direction of laser light is covered with a coating (). A wraparound portion () continuing from the coating () covers the upper surface of the waveguide () facing the recess () of the substrate ().

Planar waveguide laser device

There are provided: a planar waveguide in which claddings () and () each having a smaller refractive index than a laser medium for absorbing pump light () are bonded to an upper surface () and a lower surface () of a core () which is formed from the laser medium; pump light generation sources () and () for emitting pump light () to side surfaces () and () of the core (); and laser light high reflection films () and () formed on side surfaces () and () of the core (). Each of side surfaces () and () of the cladding () corresponding to the side surfaces () and () of the core () has a ridge structure () in which a part thereof is recessed.

Planar waveguide laser apparatus

An object is to provide an optical device capable of relaxing a manufacturing condition for an optical waveguide used in the optical device. An optical deviceis provided with an optical waveguideincluding a core and a cladding optically joined together, and a temperature controllerthat controls temperature of the optical waveguide, wherein the optical waveguide includes the core and the cladding formed such that a normalized frequency specified for light propagating through the optical waveguide changes across a cutoff frequency of a guided mode determined from a structure of the optical waveguide in a temperature range in which a refractive index of the core is higher than a refractive index of the clad. The temperature controller controls the temperature of the optical waveguide over a temperature range across temperature at which the normalized frequency equals to the cutoff frequency.

Optical device

A configuration is provided with a laser mediumof a refractive index nc that is an isotropic medium and includes an upper surface and a lower surface, where at least one of the upper surface and the lower surface is bonded with a claddinghaving a refractive index satisfying a relationship of no&#x3c;nc&#x3c;ne or ne&#x3c;nc&#x3c;no. This allows selective output of only polarized light generated by a refractive index in the claddingsmaller than the refractive index nc at a desired wavelength (e.g. 1535 nm) which can be implemented by using the isotropic medium.

Flat waveguide-type laser device

Plural signal beams enter a planar waveguide laser amplifier from different directions to follow different paths therein, which reduces a region not contributing to amplification where no signal beam passes. Plural signal beams follow different paths in the planar waveguide, and a second signal beam utilizes the gain of a portion of the planar waveguide that a first signal beam cannot utilize. By this configuration, a region not contributing to amplification of the signal beams in the planar waveguide laser amplifier can be reduced, causing to efficiently amplify plural signal beams.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yojiro Watanabe