In this paper, we consider the propagation of slow light optical pulses inside photonic crystal slab waveguides (PCSW) both from a theoretical and an application point-of-view. The numerical model used relies on a nonlinear envelope propagation equation that includes the effects of second and third order dispersion, optical losses and self phase modulation. Pulse propagation is examined both in the linear and nonlinear regime. It is numerically shown that for rates of 10Gb/s, the order of nanosecond delays can be achieved through the PCSW defect modes without excessive pulse broadening in the nonlinear regime. In the nonlinear case, it is shown that soliton pulses exhibit less broadening than pulses in the linear case. In comparing the linear and the non-linear case we consider launching pulses with the same initial full width at half maximum or the same RMS width. The influence of optical losses on the soliton pulse broadening factor is also incorporated and discussed providing a more practical perspective. The results demonstrate the potential of implementing a variety of linear and nonlinear signal processing applications in PCSWs, such as optical buffering.
