Slow-light enhanced gain in active photonic crystal waveguides

Abstract

Slow light is a fascinating physical effect, raising fundamental questions related to our understanding of light-matter interactions as well as offering new possibilities for photonic devices. From the first demonstrations of slow light propagation in ultra-cold atomic gasses, solid-state Ruby and photonic crystal structures, focus has shifted to applications, with slow light offering the ability to enhance and control light-matter interactions. The demonstration of tuneable delay lines, enhanced nonlinearities and spontaneous emission, enlarged spectral sensitivity and increased phase shifts illustrate the possibilities enabled by slow light propagation, with microwave photonics emerging as one of the promising applications. Here, we demonstrate that slow light can be used to control and increase the gain coefficient of an active semiconductor waveguide. The effect was theoretically predicted but not yet experimentally demonstrated. These results show a route towards realizing ultra-compact optical amplifiers for linear and nonlinear applications in integrated photonics and prompts further research into the rich physics of such structures.

References in corpus (6)

• Experimental realization of highly-efficient broadband coupling of single quantum dots to a photonic crystal waveguide
• Observation of soliton pulse compression in photonic crystal waveguides
• Slow-light enhancement of Beer-Lambert-Bouguer absorption
• Complex k band diagrams of 3D metamaterial/photonic crystals
• Fundamental limitations to gain enhancement in periodic media and waveguides
• Optical amplification enhancement in photonic crystals

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• A Simple Coupled-Bloch-Mode Approach To Study Active Photonic Crystal Waveguides and Lasers
• Impact of slow-light enhancement on optical propagation in active semiconductor photonic crystal waveguides
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• Controllable Spin-Resolved Photon Emission Enhanced by Slow-Light Mode in Photonic Crystal Waveguides on Chip