Patent ID: 8432609

Claim:
A semiconductor slab amplifier comprising: an undoped semiconductor slab having a length, a width and a height where the width of the slab is greater than the height of the slab and the length of the slab is greater than the width of the slab, said semiconductor slab including opposing upper and lower surfaces separated by the height of the slab, opposing edge surfaces separated by the width of the slab and opposing end surfaces separated by the length of the slab; a first gain structure formed on the upper surface of the slab and a second gain structure formed on the lower surface of the slab, said first and second gain structures including a plurality of quantum well layers separated by interstitial layers; and at least one optical pump source emitting an optical pump beam through one of the edge surfaces of the slab, wherein an optical signal beam enters one of the end surfaces of the slab and propagates down the slab in a zig-zag manner to exit the other end surface of the slab where the signal beam is amplified by the quantum well layers as it propagates through the first and second gain structures.