We explore the coherent destruction of tunneling (CDT) in a lattice array under selective in-phase harmonic modulations, in which some selected lattice sites are driven by in-phase harmonic oscillating fields and other lattice sites are undriven. Due to the occurrence of CDT, if the driving amplitude $A$ and the driving frequency $\omega$ are tuned to satisfy the zeroth-order Bessel function $J_0(A/\omega )=0$, the driven lattice sites are approximately decoupled from the undriven lattice sites. The CDT even takes place in lattice systems with high-order couplings between non-nearest-neighbor lattice sites. By using the CDT induced by selective in-phase harmonic modulations, we propose a scheme for realizing directed transport of a single particle. It is possible to observe the CDT in an engineered optical waveguide array, which provides an opportunity for controlling light propagation and designing switchlike couplers.

• Received 26 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.053847