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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Slow and fast light in coupled microresonators

Hongrok Chang, David D. Smith, Kirk A. Fuller, John O. Dimmock, Don A. Gregory, Donald O. Frazier

Published Apr 4, 2005• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We predict the propagation of slow and fast light in two co-resonant coupled optical resonators. In coupled resonators, slow light can propagate without attenuation by a cancellation of absorption as a result of mode splitting and destructive interference, whereas transparent fast light propagation can be achieved by the assistance of gain and splitting of the intracavity resonances, which consequently change the dispersion from normal to anomalous. The effective steady-state response of coupled-resonators is derived using the temporal coupled-mode formalism, and the absorptive and dispersive responses are described. Specifically, the occurrence of slow light via coupled-resonator-induced transparency and gain-assisted fast light are discussed.

DOI
10.1117/12.601659

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The inverted spectral structure of coupled-resonator-induced transparency was experimentally demonstrated using an amplifying optical ring resonator, to which another dark ring resonator was coupled. A nonamplifying spectral window was induced by the dark resonator in an otherwise strongly amplifying spectral region. Within the induced window, sharp anomalous dispersion was expected. Propagation of nearly Gaussian-shaped optical pulses was observed; the pulses propagated through the amplifying medium with a negative delay of $\ensuremath{-}$20.8 ns, without significant amplification, attenuation, or pulse deformation. The inverted induced-transparency system, producing tunable fast light, is a complementary system to traditional induced-transparency systems that produce slow light and could be potentially useful in numerous applications.
We propose a hybrid photonic molecule system, which includes a two-level system coupled to two optical cavities and the two cavities interact with each other by a phase-dependent photon-photon interaction. The absorption spectra of the two-level system manifest one or two transparent windows (zero absorption deeps) by the dark-mode effect or by breaking the dark-mode effect, which is accompanied by the rapid dispersion leading to the fast or slow light propagation effect. Combining the phased-dependent photon-photon coupling with the interactions between the two-level system and two optical cavities, the dark-mode effect is controllable due to the quantum interference effect, which together determine the process form fast to slow light effect. Moreover, we consider one optical cavity is loss and the other one can be loss, neutral, or gain. The manipulation and periodic switching of group index can be achieved by tuning the modulation phase, and the fast- and slow-light effects are particularly pronounced in the scenario of one optical cavity is active (gain), compared to those are loss or neutral. This study lays the foundation for the application of photon-mediated optical information storage and processing.