Design and analysis of slow light regime in silicon carbide 2D photonic crystal waveguides

• SiC PhC waveguides are capable of slowing down light for optical communication applications.
• Selectively optofluidic infiltrated SiC PhCs can slow light down by ∼473 times with near zero GVDs.
• Slow light guiding by SiC-PhC waveguides with figure of merit ng × Δλ/λc ≈ 0.42 is possible.
• Selective optofluidic infiltration has enhanced the flatband width of a given slow light regime.

We theoretically demonstrate the slow light capabilities of 2D silicon carbide based photonic crystal W1 waveguides (SiC-PhC-W1Ws) with numerical simulations. The PhC is assumed to be created by devising air-holes with hexagonal lattice in a standard SiC substrate having oscillator type ordinary refractive index. Numerical simulations show that by means of selective optofluidic infiltration and varying the air-holes radii, SiC-PhC-W1Ws are capable of slowing light down by about 473 times while their group velocity dispersions are tailored to near zero values. Our numerical study also suggests the possibility of slow-light guiding with ng × Δλ/λc values as high as 0.42 in SiC-PhC-W1Ws at optical telecommunications wavelengths.