Proceedings Article | 3 February 2009
KEYWORDS: Waveguides, Metamaterials, Heterojunctions, Dielectrics, Radio propagation, Wave propagation, Signal processing, Slow light, Refractive index, Light wave propagation
Recently there has been a considerable interest in metamaterial waveguide structures capable of dramatically slowing
down or, even, completely stopping light. Here, we shall explain in some detail the working principle behind the
deceleration and/or stopping of light in metamaterial structures, and review the various, metamaterial-enabled, methods
that have been proposed thus far towards achieving such a goal. Further, we will concisely describe how one can
construct zero-loss metamaterials over a continuous and broad (but not infinite) range of frequencies, which is an
essential prerequisite for any slow-light system. Moreover, it will be explained that inside such waveguide structures
light can in principle be stopped (zero group velocity, vg = 0) even in the presence of losses. By nature, metamaterialenabled
schemes for stopping/storing light invoke solid-state materials and, as such, are not subject to low-temperature
or atomic coherence limitations. Furthermore, these methods simultaneously allow for broad bandwidth operation, since
they do not rely on group index resonances; large delay-bandwidth products, since a wave packet can, in principle, be
completely stopped and buffered indefinitely; and (for the case, in particular, where a negative-index metamaterial is
used) high, almost 100%, in/out-coupling efficiencies. Thus, we conclude that these methods for trapping photons, which
can be realised using existing technology, could open the way to a multitude of hybrid optoelectronic devices to be used
in 'quantum information' processing, communication networks and signal processors and may conceivably herald a new
realm of combined metamaterials and slow light research.
