The importance of optical technology is reflected by it being one of Malaysia's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Strategic Research Areas. Analogous to the silicon chip, the impetus now is to achieve multi functionalities via high density integrated optical devices, with processing rates that are orders of magnitude faster compared to their electronics counterparts. These optical devices are generally based on light guiding channels in a multi-layer refractive index planar structure. They include optically passive structures/devices such as charmel waveguides and multiplexers as well as active ones, such as planar waveguide lasers and amplifiers. They have wide ranging applications, from communications to sensing as well as defence.