Electrooptically-Active Slow-Light-Enhanced Silicon Slot Photonic Crystal Waveguides

An electrooptically-active 80-nm-slot silicon photonic crystal waveguide is experimentally demonstrated. The index perturbation enhancement of 30 times is demonstrated in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration. The second enhancement factor is the energy confinement within the slot region of the photonic crystal waveguide. The combined effect provides good potential for sensor applications.