Short on wafer laser for heat assisted magnetic recording

1. An apparatus comprising:

a substrate;

a laser deposited above the substrate, the laser comprising one or more non-self-supporting layers of crystalline material, the laser having a length along a light path in a range of about 40 um to about 350 um;

an optical input coupler configured to receive light from the laser; and

a waveguide deposited proximate the optical input coupler, the waveguide configured to communicate light from the laser via the optical input coupler to a near-field transducer that directs energy resulting from plasmonic excitation to a recording medium;

wherein the waveguide comprises a mode converter portion that is configured to convert light received from the laser via the optical input coupler from TE00 to TE10.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional optical components disposed between the laser and the optical input coupler.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more additional optical components comprise one or more of an optical isolator, a ring resonator, and an optical amplifier.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more additional optical components are configured to perform one or more of controlling laser stability and boosting the light from the laser to the near-field transducer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the waveguide comprises a bend.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein an angle of the bend is about 90 degrees.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser is configured to emit light in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a media facing surface.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser is configured to emit light in a direction that is substantially parallel to a media facing surface.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser comprises a plurality of quantum wells.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser comprises about eight quantum wells.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a substrate;

a laser deposited above the substrate, the laser comprising one or more non-self-supporting layers of crystalline material, the laser having a length along a light path in a range of about 40 um to about 350 um;

an optical input coupler configured to receive light from the laser;

one or more additional optical components configured to perform one or more of controlling laser stability and boosting the light from the laser to a near-field transducer; and

a waveguide deposited proximate the optical input coupler, the waveguide configured to communicate light from the laser via the optical input coupler to the near-field transducer that directs energy resulting from plasmonic excitation to a recording medium;

wherein the waveguide comprises a mode converter portion that is configured to convert light received from the laser via the optical input coupler from TE00 to TE10.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more additional optical components comprise one or more of an optical isolator, a ring resonator, and an optical amplifier.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the waveguide comprises a bend.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein an angle of the bend is about 90 degrees.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the laser is configured to emit light in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a media facing surface.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the laser is configured to emit light in a direction that is substantially parallel to a media facing surface.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the laser comprises a plurality of quantum wells.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the laser comprises about eight quantum wells.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the laser has a length along the light path of no greater than about 250 um.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the laser has a length along the light path of no greater than about 250 um.