Energy Spectrum of Bloch Electrons Under Checkerboard Field Modulations

Abstract

Two-dimensional Bloch electrons in a uniform magnetic field exhibit complex energy spectrum. When static electric and magnetic modulations with a checkerboard pattern are superimposed on the uniform magnetic field, more structures and symmetries of the spectra are found, due to the additional adjustable parameters from the modulations. We give a comprehensive report on these new symmetries. We have also found an electric-modulation induced energy gap, whose magnitude is independent of the strength of either the uniform or the modulated magnetic field. This study is applicable to experimentally accessible systems and is related to the investigations on frustrated antiferromagnetism.

arXiv comment8 pages, 6 figures (reduced in sizes), submitted to Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (4)

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• Birefringent break up of Dirac fermions in a square optical lattice
• Localized Wavefunctions and Magnetic Band Structure for Lateral Semiconductor Superlattices
• Finite size effects and Hofstadter butterfly in a bosonic Mott insulator with relativistic dispersion background