Slow light in resonant photonic crystals with a complex unit cell

Features of the propagation and slowing down of short light pulses (duration of ~0.1–2 ps) in one-dimensional resonant photonic crystals with various types of unit cells containing several quantum wells are discussed. It is established that the use of structures with a complex unit cell makes it possible to reduce the group velocity of exciton-polaritons along with the conservation of the width of the transparency window. The calculations show the possibility of the slowing down of a light pulse by a factor of 50 as compared to a pulse propagating in vacuum. The predicted delay time of the pulse is 2 ps at a damping of only 3–5 times.