Patent ID: 8149887

Claim:
A planar waveguide laser device that forms a waveguide by a plate-like laser medium having birefringence and clad attached to at least one of surfaces of the laser medium perpendicular to a thickness direction thereof, amplifies laser light by a gain produced by excitation light incident on the laser medium, and performs laser oscillation, wherein the laser medium is formed of a birefringent material that has an optic axis on a cross section perpendicular to a light axis that is a direction in which the laser light travels, the clad is formed of a material having a refractive index in a range between refractive indexes of two polarized lights that travel along the light axis in the laser medium and have oscillation surfaces that are orthogonal to each other, and the laser medium is YVO 4 or GdVO 4 that is doped with an active ion, and the clad is a dielectric film of Ta 2 O 5 .