Slow pulses in disordered photonic-crystal waveguides

Using a 3D fully-vectorial coupled Bloch-mode method, we present a systematic study of the transport of slow-light pulses in single-mode photonic-crystal waveguides (PhCW) with a realistic disorder model. For the intermediate regime corresponding to waveguide lengths of the order of the mean-free path (3 dB attenuation), we show that the group-velocity has a strong impact on the pulse broadening and distortion, limiting the practical use of PhCW to group indices below ≈50. For smaller group velocities, the pulse experiences an additional delay and the group-velocity is no longer a meaningful quantity.