We theoretically study how to control transport, bound states, and resonant states of a single photon in a one-dimensional coupled-cavity array. We find that the transport of a single photon in the cavity array can be controlled by tuning the frequency of either one or two cavities. If one of the cavities in the array has a tunable frequency, and its frequency is tuned to be larger (or smaller) than those of other cavities, then there is a photon bound state above (or below) the energy band of the coupled-cavity array. However, if two cavities in the array have tunable frequencies, then there exist both bound states and resonant states. If the frequencies of the two cavities are chosen to be much larger than those of other cavities, and the hopping couplings between any two nearest-neighbor cavities are weak, then a single photon with a resonant wave vector can be trapped in the region between the two frequency-tunable cavities. In this case, a quantum supercavity can be formed by these two frequency-tunable cavities. We also study how to apply this photon transport control to an array of coupled superconducting transmission line resonators.

• Received 21 September 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.81.042304