Arrays of coupled dipole emitters support collective single- and multiphoton states that can preserve quantum excitations. One of the crucial characteristics of these states is the lifetime, which is fundamentally limited due to spontaneous emission. Here, we present a mechanism of the external coupling of two states via the radiation continuum, which allows for an increase in the lifetime of both single and double excitations. As an illustrative example, we consider a ringlike ensemble of quantum emitters, demonstrating that upon slight optimization of the structure geometry, one can increase the lifetime of singly and doubly excited states with nonzero orbital momentum by several orders of magnitude. The proposed mechanism of multiphoton excitations lifetime control has a universal nature and might be applied for a wide class of open quantum systems and quantum ensembles besides the particular geometry considered in this Letter.

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• Angular momentum of light
• Collective effects in quantum optics
• Long-range interactions
• Nanophotonics
• Photonics
• Quantum description of light-matter interaction
• Quantum optics
• Quantum optics with artificial atoms
• Spontaneous emission
• Superradiance & subradiance
• Atomic ensemble
• Atoms
• Polarization
• Dipole approximation
• Schroedinger equation
• Semiclassical methods
• Two-level models