Negative refractive material slow-wave waveguide optical modulator

Using negative refractive material slow-wave waveguide, a compact and integrated optical modulator is proposed for the first time to our knowledge. The slow group velocities of light, which are readily achievable in negative refractive material waveguide, can dramatically increase the induced phase shifts caused by small changes in the refractive index. This slow propagation is illustrated with a finite-difference time-domain simulation. Modulation operation was demonstrated by using a 40 pm-long negative refractive material slow-wave waveguide of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure. The modulation depth is 98%. The size of the novel optical modulator is 100 times shorter than that of conventional MZI optical modulator.