Nanophotonic Slow-Light Structure For Telecommunication Applications

In this thesis, the delay performance of slow light optical pulses inside PCWs is considered in the linear and nonlinear propagation regime from both a theoretical and an application point of view. It is numerically shown that for rates of 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s, nonlinear solitary pulses experience less broadening than the linear case and can therefore be used to obtain larger delays. The storage capacity of slow light PCWs is maximized using a systematic procedure based on the optimization of various parameters of the structure. Moreover, approximate analytical expressions for the estimation of the degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) conversion efficiency in slow-light PCWs are presented. The derived formulas incorporate the different effective modal areas and the frequency-dependent linear and nonlinear parameters of the pump, signal, and idler waves. The influence of linear loss, two-photon absorption, and free-carrier generation is also accounted for. We discuss the optimization of PCWs for FWM applications, taking into account linear loss and free-carrier effects. Suitable figures of merit are introduced in order to guide us through the choice of practical, high-efficiency designs requiring relatively low pump power and small waveguide length. Promising waveguide designs are identified, altering some structural parameters. These designs are identified using an optimization process taking into account sophisticated figure-of merits that depend on the pump bandwidth and the signal/pump tunability. We also present alternative designs that are less efficient but have smaller power requirements and are far more compact.