Abstract
One of the exciting features of photonic crystals is that light may travel at very low group velocities at specific optical frequencies. In photonic crystal waveguides, such low group velocities are also possible. We have studied the propagation of femtosecond pulses in these waveguides, with a phase-sensitive and time-resolved near-field microscope. With this microscope, we visualized the pulses as they propagate in the waveguide. Moreover, we monitored the pulse envelope in time, at various positions in the structure, in order to study the pulse dispersion. We found, that the pulses indeed propagate more slowly as we approached the Brillouin zone boundary by decreasing the optical frequency. As the group velocity is reduced, a broadening of the pulses was observed. On top of that, the pulses exhibited a strong asymmetric distortion as the propagation distance increased. This asymmetric broadening can be attributed to an increase in higher-order dispersion. Our findings show, that if the most commonly used slow light regime in photonic crystals is to be exploited, great care has to be taken about higher-order dispersion, even at moderate group delays.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | 2006 International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, ICTON 2006 |
Pages | 98-101 |
Number of pages | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2006 |
Event | 8th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, ICTON 2006 - Nottingham, United Kingdom Duration: 18 Jun 2006 → 22 Jun 2006 Conference number: 8 |
Publication series
Name | 2006 International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks |
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Volume | 2 |
Conference
Conference | 8th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, ICTON 2006 |
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Abbreviated title | ICTON |
Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
City | Nottingham |
Period | 18/06/06 → 22/06/06 |
Keywords
- Dispersion
- Near-field microscopy
- Photonic crystal
- Slow light
- Ultrafast pulses
- Waveguides