The coupling of a quantum mechanical system to open decay channels has been
theoretically studied in numerous works, mainly in the context of nuclear
physics but also in atomic, molecular and mesoscopic physics. Theory predicts
that with increasing coupling strength to the channels the resonance widths of
all states should first increase but finally decrease again for most of the
states. In this letter, the first direct experimental verification of this
effect, known as resonance trapping, is presented. In the experiment a
microwave Sinai cavity with an attached waveguide with variable slit width was
used.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
