We propose a single-photon frequency converter via a one-dimensional waveguide coupled to a V -type atom. The on-demand classical field allows the atom to absorb a photon with a given frequency, then emit a photon with a carried frequency different from the absorbed one. The absorption and re-emission process is formulated as a two-channel scattering process. We study the single-photon frequency conversion mechanism in two kinds of realistic physical system: coupled resonator waveguide with cosine dispersion relation and an optical waveguide with linear dispersion relation respectively. We find that the driving field prefers weak in coupled resonator waveguide but arbitrarily strong in optical waveguide to achieve an optical transfer efficiency.

We study the transport properties of a single photon scattered by a two-level system (TLS) in a T-shaped waveguide, which is made of two coupled-resonator waveguides (CRWs)- an infinite CRW and a semi-infinite CRW. The spontaneous emission of the TLS directs single photons from one CRW to the other. Although the transfer rate is different for the wave incident from different CRWs, due to the boundary breaking the translational symmetry, the boundary can enhance the transfer rate found in Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 103604 (2013) and Phys. Rev. A 89, 013805 (2014), as the transfer rate could be unity for the wave incident from the semi-infinite CRW.

We propose to create optical nonreciprocity in a three-mode optomechanical system comprising one mechanical and two optical modes, where the mechanical mode is coupled with only one of the optical modes. The optical nonreciprocal response of the system is based on the nonlinearity induced by the optomechanical interaction. However, nonlinearity is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for observing nonreciprocity. Another necessary condition for nonreciprocal response of the system to a classical driving field is demonstrated analytically. The effects of the parameters on the nonreciprocal response of the system are discussed numerically. The three-mode optomechanical system provides a platform to realize nonreciprocity for strong optical signal fields.

With the assistance of a single cyclic three-level system, which can be realized by a superconducting flux qubit, we study theoretically the degenerate microwave parametric down-conversion (PDC) in a superconducting transmission line resonator with the fundamental and second harmonic modes involved. By adiabatically eliminating the excited states of the three-level system, we obtain an effective microwave PDC Hamiltonian for the two resonator modes in such a circuit QED system. The corresponding PDC efficiency in our model can be much larger than that in the similar circuit QED system based on a single two-level superconducting qubit [K. Moon and S. M. Girvin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 140504 (2005)]. Furthermore, we consider the squeezing and bunching behavior of the fundamental mode resulting from the coherent drive to the second harmonic one.