A waveguide has upper and lower cladding regions. A core of the waveguide made of a non-linear optical polymer is positioned between the upper and lower cladding regions. A first electrode is connected to the upper cladding region and a second electrode is connected to the lower cladding region. The upper cladding region and the lower cladding region are made of photonic band gap materials and have multiple periods of cladding layers with each period having a first layer having a linear refractive index of n.sub.1 and each period having a second layer having a linear refractive index of n.sub.2. The waveguide allows for minimal distances to exist between the electrodes while allowing for virtual lossless cm-long transmission of propagating light. By applying a voltage to the electrodes, the propagated light can be modulated.