Slow light in photonic crystals

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate an interesting opportunity to decrease drastically the group velocity of light in two-dimensional photonic crystals constructed form materials with large dielectric constant without dispersion (epsilon(d) similar to 100). The group velocity of light in the crystals can be lowered up to 10(-5) - 10(-4) c (c is velocity of light in free space) in a wide range of the Brillouin zone. We propose a simple and general explanation why that should appear in photonic crystals with large dielectric constants. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.