Nature Communications (Sep 2024)

Storing light near an exceptional point

  • Yicheng Zhu,
  • Jiankun Hou,
  • Qi Geng,
  • Boyi Xue,
  • Yuping Chen,
  • Xianfeng Chen,
  • Li Ge,
  • Wenjie Wan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52064-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Abstract Photons with zero rest mass are impossible to be stopped. However, a pulse of light can be slowed down and even halted through strong light-matter interaction in a dispersive medium in atomic systems. Exceptional point (EP), a non-Hermitian singularity point, can introduce an abrupt transition in dispersion. Here we experimentally observe room-temperature storing light near an exceptional point induced by nonlinear Brillouin scattering in a chip-scale 90-μm-radius optical microcavity, the smallest platform up to date to store light. Through nonlinear coupling, a Parity-Time (PT) symmetry can be constructed in optical-acoustical hybrid modes, where Brillouin scattering-induced absorption (BSIA) can lead to both slow light and fast light of incoming pulses. A subtle transition of slow-to-fast light reveals a critical point for storing a light pulse up to half a millisecond. This compact and room-temperature scheme of storing light paves the way for practical applications in all-optical communications and quantum information processing.