Optical delay in silicon photonic crystals using ultrafast indirect photonic transitions

Using a silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguide, we demonstrate the operation of a dynamic delay line based on an ultrafast indirect photonic transition to alter the group velocity of a pulse. We show continuously tuneable delays of up to 20 ps, using a waveguide just 300 μm in length. Our approach is scalable, in that both the maximum delay and capacity of the buffer are proportional to the length of the waveguide, and flexible, in that individual pulses in a pulse stream can be controlled independently, which we demonstrate by operating on pulses separated by just 30 ps.

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