title: Millisecond Photon Lifetime in a Slow-Light Microcavity.
abstract: Optical microcavities with ultralong photon storage times are of central importance for integrated nanophotonics. To date, record quality (Q) factors up to 10^{11} have been measured in millimetric-size single-crystal whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators, and 10^{10} in silica or glass microresonators. We show that, by introducing slow-light effects in an active WGM microresonator, it is possible to enhance the photon lifetime by several orders of magnitude, thus circumventing both fabrication imperfections and residual absorption. The slow-light effect is obtained from coherent population oscillations in an erbium-doped fluoride glass microsphere, producing strong dispersion of the WGM (group index n_{g}∼10^{6}). As a result, a photon lifetime up to 2.5 ms at room temperature has been measured, corresponding to a Q factor of 3×10^{12} at 1530 nm. This system could yield a new type of optical memory microarray with ultralong storage times.
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Huet
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasoloniaina
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guillemé
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rochard
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Féron
authors.affiliation: IRCP (CNRS-UMR 8247), Chimie Paristech, PSL Research University, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mortier
authors.affiliation: LPN (CNRS-UPR 20), Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levenson
authors.affiliation: LPN (CNRS-UPR 20), Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bencheikh
authors.affiliation: LPN (CNRS-UPR 20), Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yacomotti
authors.affiliation: FOTON (CNRS-UMR 6082), Université de Rennes I, ENSSAT, 6 rue de Kerampont, CS 80518, 22305 Lannion cedex, France.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dumeige