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 advance the flat-band engineering in 2D non-Hermitian optical lattices.