Frozen and broadband slow light in coupled periodic nanowire waveguides

Abstract

We develop novel designs enabling slow-light propagation with vanishing group-velocity dispersion ("frozen light") and slow-light with large delay-bandwidth product, in periodic nanowires. Our design is based on symmetry-breaking of periodic nanowire waveguides and we demonstrate its vailidy through two- and three-dimensional simulations. The slow-light is associated with a stationary inflection point which appears through coupling between forward and backward waveguide modes. The mode coupling also leads to evanescent modes, which enable efficient light coupling to the slow mode. Show more