Coherent Control of Spontaneous Emission near a Photonic Band Edge: A Single-Atom Optical Memory Device

We demonstrate coherent control of spontaneous emission from a three-level atom with one resonant frequency near the edge of a photonic band gap. As a result of quantum interference and photon localization, spontaneous emission can be totally suppressed or strongly enhanced depending on the relative phase between the control and pump laser fields. The fractionalized steady state inversion of the atom depends sensitively on the initial conditions, suggesting the possibility of a phase-sensitive, optical memory device on the atomic scale.