Patent ID: 7228030

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a first and a second optical path, an optical beam to be directed through the first optical path; an evanescent coupler including the first and second optical paths, the evanescent coupler evanescently coupling the first and second optical paths; a first reflector at a first end of the first optical path; a second reflector at a second end of the first optical path; and a laser cavity including a gain medium defined between first and second reflectors, wherein the second reflector is included in the evanescent coupler and integrated in the first and second optical paths such that the optical beam directed through the first optical path is reflected from the second reflector as the optical beam is concurrently evanescently coupled from the first to the second optical path, the optical beam output from the evanescent coupler having an output spectrum that is similar to an intra-cavity spectrum of the optical beam directed through the laser cavity.