The losses in a photonic crystal waveguide were measured with a near-field microscope in the group velocity range of c/7 down to c/200. Our measurements show that the losses scale proportional to vg-2 for group velocities above c/30. Below c/30, the losses are no longer described by the same power-law dependence on vg and the modal pattern becomes irregular, indicative of multiple scattering. The findings indicate the existence of two regimes of slow-light losses: one where a perturbative approach describes propagation with fabrication disorder and one where it breaks down.

doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.101.103901
Phys. Rev. Lett.

Engelen, R. J. P., Mori, D., Baba, T., & Kuipers, K. (2008). Two regimes of slow-light losses revealed by adiabatic reduction of group velocity. Phys.Rev.Lett., 101(Article number: 103901), 1–4. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.103901