Optimization of Slow Light in Slotted Photonic Crystal Waveguide With Liquid Infiltration

Abstract

Slow light in slotted photonic crystal waveguide (SPCW) has been theoretically optimized with the post-fabrication technology of liquid infiltration. By choosing the refractive indices that infiltrated in the first and second rows of air holes adjacent to the slot, SPCW was optimized to possess wideband slow light with high group index and low dispersion. Simulation results showed that the slow light in SPCW for the same structure could be optimized with nearly constant group indices of 50, 82.5, 150, and 176 over 6.9 nm, 3.1 nm, 1.65 nm, and 1.15 nm bandwidths. Then, it was demonstrated that this method has the potential for realizing reconfigurable SPCW, in which the tunable slow light could be obtained. Besides, the capability to control the slow light properties after fabrication was interesting to compensate fabrication imperfections, and it was particularly interesting to realize temperature-stable SPCW devices. The preliminary results of this study have provided important theoretical basis for the potential application offered by the SPCW in future optical technologies.