Extremely large group-velocity dispersion of line-defect waveguides in photonic crystal slabs

We reveal experimentally waveguiding characteristics and group-velocity dispersion of line defects in photonic crystal slabs as a function of defect widths. The defects have waveguiding modes with two types of cutoff within the photonic band gap. Interference measurements show that they exhibit extraordinarily large group dispersion, and we found waveguiding modes whose traveling speed is 2 orders of magnitude slower than that in air. These characteristics can be tuned by controlling the defect width, and the results agree well with theoretical calculations, indicating that we can design light paths with made-to-order dispersion.