Active chromatic control and resonant improvement on the transverse-phase-modulation-induced group delay of light

In this paper, we reviewed the theoretical and experimental studies on the manipulation of the group delay of light based on the transverse phase modulation effect induced by a Gaussian beam. We introduced the basic theory of slow and fast lights in a thin nonlinear material based on the transverse phase modulation effect. We introduced a simple but effective technique to actively and chromatically control the group velocity of light at arbitrary wavelength, therefore, eliminating the requirements on the optical nonlinearity and the photonic resonance at the signal wavelength. Furthermore, a technique to improve the transverse-modulation-induced relative delay of light in nonlinear media through the combination of an optical nonlinearity and a resonant Fabry-Perot cavity was introduced and theoretically demonstrated in ruby as an example. The introduction of a resonant Fabry-Perot cavity can improve the relative delay by orders of magnitude. The techniques of active chromatic manipulation and resonant improvement of the group delay of light may have potential applications in optical information processing and optical communication network.

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