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A New Method for Finding Bound States in the Continuum

Published Jan 1, 2024• 0 citations
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Abstract

This study presents a general theory for constructing potentials supporting bound states in the continuum, offering a method for identifying such states in real quantum systems.
DOI
10.7566/jpsht.4.031

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Abstract Historically, most of the quantum mechanical results have originated in one dimensional model potentials. However, Von-Neumann’s Bound states in the Continuum (BIC) originated in specially constructed, three dimensional, oscillatory, central potentials. One dimensional version of BIC has long been attempted, where only quasi-exactly-solvable models have succeeded but not without instigating degeneracy in one dimension. Here, we present an exactly solvable bottomless exponential potential barrier V ( x ) = − V 0 [ exp ( 2 ∣ x ∣ / a ) − 1 ] which for E < V 0 has a continuum of non-square-integrable, definite-parity, degenerate states. In this continuum, we show a surprising presence of discrete energy, square-integrable, definite-parity, non-degenerate states. For E > V 0 , there is again a continuum of complex scattering solutions ψ ( x ) whose real and imaginary parts though solutions of Schrödinger equation yet their parities cannot be ascertained as Cψ ( x ) is also a solution where C is an arbitrary complex non-real number.
Quantum mechanical interaction potentials typically support either localized bound states below the dissociation threshold or delocalized scattering states above it. While bound states are energetically isolated, scattering states embed a quantum system in a continuum of environmental modes, making dissipation and loss intrisic features of open quantum systems. A striking exception are bound states in the continuum (BICs), which remain localized despite lying within the scattering continuum due to destructive interference. It was predicted that such states can arise from the interference of two Feshbach resonances coupled to a common continuum, yet this mechanism has remained experimentally inaccessible in genuine quantum systems. Here we demonstrate the formation of such an interference-stabilized state in ultracold collisions of 6{}^66Li atoms by coherently coupling two tunable Feshbach resonances using Floquet engineering. At a critical parameter point, both elastic and inelastic coupling to the continuum vanish, yielding a molecular state above the dissociation threshold. Loss spectroscopy, quench dynamics, and rf-photoassociation directly reveal the resulting decoupling from scattering states. Our observations are quantitatively captured by full coupled-channel calculations and a minimal non-Hermitian model, identifying a Friedrich-Wintgen BIC. Our results establish quantum interference as a powerful mechanism for controlling openness in quantum matter and for engineering non-Hermitian Hamiltonians.