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

Abstract

We report the effect of symmetry-broken contacts on quantum transport in quasi-one-dimensional lattices. In contrast to one-dimensional (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 flatband 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 flatband energy, which is difficult to detect. © 2017 American Physical Society