Defect assisted coupled resonator optical waveguide: Weak perturbations

Coupled resonator optical waveguides (CROW) comprised of only a few resonators including one defective element are investigated analytically and numerically. The defect is introduced by perturbing weakly the resonator at the center of the chain, creating a 'cavity' in what is an analogue of a Fabry-Pérot resonator or a defect-assisted photonic crystal structure. The device is found to have a very narrow resonance within the original stopband of the unperturbed CROW, and an accompanying extremely large group velocity excursion, that extends over both the subluminal and the superluminal ranges. The properties of the resonance and the magnitude of the group velocity dispersion are found to be conveniently controllable by coupling strength and by the number of resonators used. The perturbation can be caused thermo-optically or electro-optically. The complex effects of waveguide loss are extensively discussed.