Slowing light with Fabry-Perot resonator arrays

Abstract

We analyze the transmission of light through coupled-resonator optical waveguides in the form of evanescently coupled Fabry-Perot resonator arrays. We develop a transfer matrix method to calculate the amplitude and phase responses of the arrays. We also discuss the inclusion of optical gain in the system to compensate for losses in these structures. Owing to the compact length along the propagation direction in evanescently coupled arrays, large slowing factors of the order of 10^2-10^3 can be achieved even with a weak index contrast of ∼0.1%. The large slowing factor, coupled with weak index contrast, makes this structure a promising candidate for artificial slow light system.