PT- Symmetric Coupled-Resonator Waveguide Based on Buried Heterostructure Nanocavities

We propose and theoretically study a parity-time (PT)-symmetric photonic-crystal coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) based on buried heterostructure nanocavities which has potential scalability and controllability. We analytically reveal its spectral transport properties with a tight-binding model and show the possibility of the wide-range control of its group velocity using the PT phase transition. While the group velocity at the PT phase-transition point diverges, the group-velocity dispersion converges. A numerical estimation of the system response to temporal pulse inputs shows that the pulse broadening is not severe in a device of hundreds of micrometers in size. Furthermore, a longer pulse duration results in a higher upper limit of the pulse peak velocity, which can be, in principle, superluminal. We next perform numerical simulations on the considered photonic-crystal slab structures with the finite-element method, and we successfully observe PT phase transitions. In the simulated parameter range, gain and loss coefficients of the order of 100 cm(-1) meet the condition for the maximum group-velocity coefficient in the context of the tight-binding approach. A 9.3-fold increase in the group velocity at 1502 nm is obtained in a three-dimensional device by switching between the conventional and PT-symmetric CROWs. Meanwhile, we also encounter band smoothing around the phase transition, which hampers the group-velocity divergence. Our simulation result indicates that it arises from interfering evanescent waves decaying out of the device structure, and we discuss ways to suppress this effect.