Optical nonlinearity can be enhanced by the combination of highly nonlinear chalcogenide glass and photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) providing strong optical confinement and slow-light effects. In a Ag-As(2)Se(3) chalcogenide PCW, the effective nonlinear parameter γeff reaches 6.3 × 10(4) W(-1)m(-1), which is 200 times larger than that in Si photonic wire waveguides. In this paper, we report t...

The threshold properties of photonic crystal quantum dot lasers operating in the slow-light regime are investigated experimentally and theoretically. Measurements show that, in contrast to conventional lasers, the threshold gain attains a minimum value for a specific cavity length. The experimental results are explained by an analytical theory for the laser threshold that takes into account the...

Andrey A. Sukhorukov,* Andrei V. Lavrinenko, Dmitry N. Chigrin, Dmitry E. Pelinovsky, and Yuri S. Kivshar Nonlinear Physics Centre and Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia DTU Fotonik, Department of Photonics Engineering, NanoDTU, Technical Universit...

We discuss the performance of slow-light enhanced optical switches and modulators fabricated in silicon. The switch is based on photonic crystal waveguides in a directional coupler geometry, and the dispersion of the device is engineered to allow a switching length as short as 5 μm and rerouting of optical signals within 3 ps. The 3 ps switching time is demonstrated using free carriers in the s...

We develop a theoretical model for slow light using excitonic population oscillation in a semiconductor quantum well. In a two-level system, if the resonant pump and the signal have a difference frequency within the range of inverse of the carrier lifetime, coherent population beating at this frequency will be generated. We analyze the excitonic population oscillation using an atomiclike model ...

In this Letter we show that interferometers with unbalanced arm lengths can be balanced using optical elements with appropriate group delays. For matched group delays of the arms, the balanced interferometer becomes insensitive to the frequency noise of the source. For experimental illustration, a ring resonator is employed as a slow-light element to compensate the arm-length mismatch of a Mach...

The development of high-quality silica optical fibres with excellent transmission capabilities has directly contributed to the tremendous expansion of the global communication network. The success is due to their unrivalled low-loss performance (typically 50% of light is still present after a 15-km transmission distance), their wide bandwidth, which allows terabits per second of information to ...

We propose and demonstrate a proof-of-concept system for a coherently combined multi-aperture slow-light laser radar. By employing slow-light delay elements in short-pulse-emitting systems to ensure synchronized pulse arrival at the target, we show that it is possible to simultaneously achieve high resolution in the transverse and the lateral dimensions with a wide steering angle.