Dispersion-controlled slow light in photonic crystal waveguides

摘要

Slow light with a markedly low group velocity is a promising solution for opticalbuffering and advanced time-domain optical signal processing. It is also anticipated to enhance lin-ear and nonlinear effects and so miniaturize functional photonic devices because slow light com-presses optical energy in space. Photonic crystal waveguide devices generate on-chip slow light atroom temperature with a wide bandwidth and low dispersion suitable for short pulse transmission.This paper first explains the delay-bandwidth product, fractional delay, and tunability as crucialcriteria for buffering capacity of slow light devices. Then the paper describes experimental obser-vations of slow light pulse, exhibiting their record high values. It also demonstrates the nonlinearenhancement based on slow light pulse transmission.