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

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.