Flat band in two-dimensional non-Hermitian optical lattices

Abstract: We propose a method to generate a real-energy flat band in a two-dimensional (2D) non-Hermitian Lieb lattice. The coincidence of the flat band eigenstate in both real and momentum spaces is essential for the proposed flat band, which is flexible at the appropriate match between the synthetic magnetic flux and non-Hermiticity. The proposed method is not limited to the 2D non-Hermitian Lieb lattice, and is applied to the 2D non-Hermitian Tasaki's decorated square lattice, dice lattice, and kagome lattice. Our findings make a step forward for the flat band engineering in 2D non-Hermitian optical lattices.