Antiresonance induced by symmetry-broken contacts in quasi-one-dimensional lattices

We report the effect of symmetry-broken contacts on quantum transport in quasi-one-dimensional lattices. In contrast to 1D chains, transport in quasi-one-dimensional lattices, which are made up of a finite number of 1D chain layers, is strongly influenced by contacts. Contact symmetry depends on whether the contacts maintain or break the parity symmetry between the layers. With balanced on-site potential, a flat band can be detected by asymmetric contacts, but not by symmetric contacts. In the case of asymmetric contacts with imbalanced on-site potential, transmission is suppressed at certain energies. We elucidate these energies of transmission suppression related to antiresonance using reduced lattice models and Feynman paths. These results provide a nondestructive measurement of flat band energy which it is difficult to detect.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Reconfiguration of quantum states in PT\mathcal PT-symmetric quasi-one dimensional lattices

We demonstrate mesoscopic transport through quantum states in quasi-1D lattices maintaining the combination of parity and time-reversal symmetries by controlling energy gain and loss. We investigate the phase diagram of the non-Hermitian system where transitions take place between unbroken and broken $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phases via exceptional points. Quantum transport in the lattice is measured only in the unbroken phases in the energy band-but not in the broken phases. The broken phase allows for spontaneous symmetry-broken states where the cross-stitch lattice is separated into two identical single lattices corresponding to conditionally degenerate eigenstates. These degeneracies show a lift-up in the complex energy plane, caused by the non-Hermiticity with $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Flat-band localization and self-collimation of light in photonic crystals

We investigate the optical properties of a photonic crystal composed of a quasi-one-dimensional flat-band lattice array through finite-difference time-domain simulations. The photonic bands contain flat bands (FBs) at specific frequencies, which correspond to compact localized states as a consequence of destructive interference. The FBs are shown to be nondispersive along the $\Gamma\rightarrow X$ line, but dispersive along the $\Gamma\rightarrow Y$ line. The FB localization of light in a single direction only results in a self-collimation of light propagation throughout the photonic crystal at the FB frequency.Comment: 18 single-column pages, 7 figures including graphical to

Emergent localized states at the interface of a twofold PT\mathcal{PT}-symmetric lattice

We consider the role of non-triviality resulting from a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that conserves twofold PT-symmetry assembled by interconnections between a PT-symmetric lattice and its time reversal partner. Twofold PT-symmetry in the lattice produces additional surface exceptional points that play the role of new critical points, along with the bulk exceptional point. We show that there are two distinct regimes possessing symmetry-protected localized states, of which localization lengths are robust against external gain and loss. The states are demonstrated by numerical calculation of a quasi-1D ladder lattice and a 2D bilayered square lattice.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Non-orientability induced PT phase transition in Moebius ladder lattices

We study parity-time (PT) phase transitions in the energy spectra of ladder lattices caused by the interplay between non-orientability and non-Hermitian PT symmetry. The energy spectra show level crossings in circular ladder lattices with increasing on-site energy gain-loss because of the orientability of a normal strip. However, the energy levels show PT phase transitions in PT-symmetric Moebius ladder lattices due to the non-orientability of a Moebius strip. In order to understand the level crossings of PT symmetric phases, we generalize the rotational transformation using a complex rotation angle. We also study the modification of resonant tunneling induced by a sharply twisted interface in PT-symmetric ladder lattices. Finally, we find that the perfect transmissions at the zero energy are recovered at the exceptional points of the PT-symmetric system due to the self-orthogonal states.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Conductance oscillations in Chern insulator junctions: Valley-isospin dependence and Aharonov-Bohm effects

The transport properties of Chern insulator junctions generated by bipolar junctions in quantum Hall graphene are theoretically studied in the coherent regime. Coherent transport across the junction exhibits two mesoscopic features: valley-isospin dependence of the quantum Hall conductance, and the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effects with the interface channels. We demonstrate that the valley-isospin dependence can be measured in a graphene sample with perfect edge terminations, resulting in conductance oscillation for the smallest Chern number case. On the other hand, while conductance plateaus are found to be unclear for larger Chern numbers, the conductance exhibits an oscillatory behavior of which period is relatively longer than the valley-isospin dependent oscillation. This conductance oscillation is ascribed to the AB effect, which is implicitly created by the split metallic channels near the junction interface.We point out that a possible origin of the unclear plateaus previously speculated to be incompleteness in realistic devices is the low-visibility conductance oscillation due to unequal beam splitting. © 2017 American Physical Society2