Experimental Measurement of Enhanced Group Delay Silicon Photonic Waveguides Indicative of the Frozen Mode Regime Around the Stationary Inflection Point

TL;DR

This paper reports on the experimental measurement of silicon photonic waveguides engineered for enhanced group delay via the frozen mode regime, demonstrating spectral and delay properties near the stationary inflection point.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of enhanced group delays in silicon photonic waveguides supporting the frozen mode regime, advancing dispersion engineering techniques.

Findings

Evidence of enhanced delays near the FMR

Spectral response matches modeled data

Perturbation analysis impacts on device performance

Abstract

The dispersion engineering of periodic silicon photonic waveguides presents opportunities for significant group delay enhancement compared to uniform waveguides of comparable length. We describe the spectral response characteristics for measured devices and compare their properties to modeled data. These waveguides support the frozen mode regime (FMR) around near infrared wavelengths and are expected to show enhanced group delays around the FMR resonances. Measurements of fabricated devices provide evidence for enhanced delays and spectral properties associated with the FMR. We study how perturbations to the waveguide model impact agreement with measurements and its meaning for these devices operating in the FMR.