Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
11:08
Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities
Published on: November 30, 2012
All-optical slow-light on a photonic chip.
Optics Express
|June 9, 2009
Summary
We demonstrate optically tunable delays using slow light in silicon waveguides. This advancement enables controllable delays for short pulses, crucial for chip-scale photonics.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Optoelectronics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Slow light phenomena enable precise control over optical signal propagation.
- Silicon photonics offers a scalable platform for integrated optical devices.
- Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is a nonlinear optical process that can be used to generate slow light.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate optically tunable delays in a silicon-on-insulator planar waveguide.
- To utilize slow light induced by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) for delay generation.
- To advance chip-scale photonics for all-optical signal processing.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of an 8-mm-long nanoscale silicon-on-insulator planar waveguide.
- Induction of slow light using stimulated Raman scattering (SRS).
- Measurement of group-index change and pulse delay for short optical pulses.
Main Results:
- Achieved a group-index change of 0.15.
- Generated controllable delays up to 4 picoseconds (ps) for 3 picosecond (ps) signal pulses.
- Demonstrated the scheme's applicability at bandwidths exceeding 100 GHz across the fiber-optics communications window.
Conclusions:
- Optically tunable delays are feasible in silicon-on-insulator waveguides via SRS-induced slow light.
- The demonstrated technique is compatible with high bandwidths and standard communication wavelengths.
- This represents a significant step towards developing integrated photonic devices for light-by-light signal processing.
