Slowing and stopping light using an optomechanical crystal array

The ability to coherently store and retrieve optical information in a rapidly tunable manner is an important ingredient for all‐optical information processing. In the classical domain, this optical buffering is necessary to manage information flow in complex networks. In quantum information processing, such a system can also serve as a long‐term memory capable of storing the full quantum information contained in an optical pulse. Here we suggest a novel approach to light storage involving an optical waveguide coupled to an optomechanical crystal array, where light in the waveguide can be dynamically and reversibly mapped into long‐lived mechanical vibrations in the array. This technique enables large bandwidths and long storage and delay times in a compact, on‐chip platform.