  In population trapping the occupation of a decaying quantum level keeps a
constant non-zero value. We show that an atom-cavity system interacting with an
environment characterized by a non-flat spectrum, in the non-Markovian limit,
exhibits such a behavior, effectively realizing the preservation of
nonclassical states against dissipation. Our results allow to understand the
role of cavity losses in hybrid solid state systems and pave the way to the
proper description of leakage in the recently developed cavity quantum
electrodynamic systems.
