Flux modulated flat band engineering in square-kagome ladder network

Abstract: The origin of non-dispersive flat band modes for a quasi-one dimensional square-kagome ladder network is explored analytically by virtue of the real space renormalization group (RSRG) technique. A section of the eigenstates is non-diffusive i.e., localized within a cluster of sub-lattice sites partly by the destructive type of quantum interference and partly by the physical divider formed by the sites with zero wave function amplitude. By making the amplitude vanish at the selective sites it becomes possible to confine the incoming excitation within the trapping cell leading to the formation of compact localized states. The effective mass of the particle becomes infinitely large corresponding to those self-localized modes and hence the mobility of the wave train becomes vanishingly small. This quenched kinetic energy leads to a momentum independent contribution to a dispersion curve. The present analysis is corroborated by numerical calculation of spectral landscape and the corresponding dispersion profile. The application of uniform magnetic flux may lead to a comprehensive engineering of the position as well as the curvature of the band. Also, one-to-one mapping between electronic case and photonic case within the tight-binding framework helps us to study the photonic localization in an analogous single mode wave guide system. The concept of slow light eventually introduces the possibility of spatial compression of light energy.