Coherent Control of an Embedded Bound State Without a Spectral Gap
Abstract
Bound states in the continuum (BICs) can confine photonic excitations in open systems without conventional cavities or band gaps, making them natural candidates for long-lived quantum storage and single-photon control. Their use is limited, however, by two obstacles: they are dark to incident photons, and they lack spectral-gap protection from the surrounding continuum. We overcome both limitations in a giant atom coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide using two temporal control knobs. Atomic-frequency modulation breaks and restores the destructive-interference condition, enabling deterministic capture and release of mode-matched single photons. Coupling modulation instead preserves the BIC condition while tuning the atomic and photonic weights of the stored state. A key result is that this embedded state can nevertheless be controlled adiabatically despite the absence of a spectral gap, with an intrinsic leakage probability linear in the ramp rate. By separating radiative access from BIC-preserving deformation, the protocol turns a dark BIC into a single-photon memory whose fidelity is set by the intrinsic continuum-induced leakage law, providing a route to embedded-state control in open photonic platforms.
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BibTeX
@misc{chang2026coherent,
title = {{Coherent Control of an Embedded Bound State Without a Spectral Gap}},
author = {Yue Chang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.17685},
eprint = {2606.17685},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17685},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coherent Control of an Embedded Bound State Without a Spectral Gap
AU - Yue Chang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.17685
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17685
AB - Bound states in the continuum (BICs) can confine photonic excitations in open systems without conventional cavities or band gaps, making them natural candidates for long-lived quantum storage and single-photon control. Their use is limited, however, by two obstacles: they are dark to incident photons, and they lack spectral-gap protection from the surrounding continuum. We overcome both limitations in a giant atom coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide using two temporal control knobs. Atomic-frequency modulation breaks and restores the destructive-interference condition, enabling deterministic capture and release of mode-matched single photons. Coupling modulation instead preserves the BIC condition while tuning the atomic and photonic weights of the stored state. A key result is that this embedded state can nevertheless be controlled adiabatically despite the absence of a spectral gap, with an intrinsic leakage probability linear in the ramp rate. By separating radiative access from BIC-preserving deformation, the protocol turns a dark BIC into a single-photon memory whose fidelity is set by the intrinsic continuum-induced leakage law, providing a route to embedded-state control in open photonic platforms.
ER -