Slow-Light Waveguides in the Practical Realm

Waveguide systems for slow-light propagation have attracted increased attention in the last decade owing to their promising capabilities for delaying, trapping and enhancing EM fields. These capabilities are of high interest in modern photonics systems and applications such as integrated photonics or frequency conversion and mixing platforms. Despite the intense research efforts in this research area it appears that significant obstacles remain in utilizing the full potential of slow-light waveguide systems for practical applications. We discuss here what are the challenges in meeting application demands with slow-light waveguide systems. Based on these we propose design principles that would lead to better performing slow-light waveguides. By utilizing specific examples of metamaterial-based waveguides we apply these design principles and verify that they lead to high-performing systems with large light slow-down factors and EM intensity enhancement.