Pulse advancement and delay in an integrated optical two-port ring-resonator circuit: direct experimental observations

We report experimental observations of the negative-group-velocity (v_g) phenomenon in an integrated-optical two-port ring-resonator circuit. We demonstrate that when the v_g is negative, the (main) peak of output pulse appears earlier than the peak of a reference pulse, while for a positive v_g, the situation is the other way around. We observed that a pulse splitting phenomenon occurs in the neighborhood of the critical-coupling point. This pulse splitting limits the maximum achievable delay and advancement of a single device as well as facilitating a smooth transition from highly advanced to highly delayed pulse, and vice versa, across the critical-coupling point.