English

Quantum-geometry-enabled Landau-Zener tunneling in singular flat bands

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-02-03 v2

Abstract

Flat-band materials have attracted substantial interest for their intriguing quantum geometric effects. Here we investigate how singular flat bands (SFBs) respond to a static, uniform electric field and whether they can support single-particle dc transport. By constructing a minimal two-band lattice model, we show that away from the singular band crossing point (BCP), the Wannier-Stark (WS) spectrum of the flat band is well captured by an intraband Berry phase ΦB\Phi_{\mathrm{B}}. The associated WS eigenstates are exponentially localized along the field direction, precluding dc transport. In contrast, near the BCP the interband Berry connection becomes prominent and drives Landau-Zener tunneling, which bends the flat-band WS ladder and delocalizes the SFB wavefunctions. Remarkably, this regime is governed solely by the maximal quantum distance dd through two geometric phases (θ,φ)(\theta,\varphi): θ\theta characterizes the tunneling rate and φ\varphi acts as a generalized Berry phase. These results highlight the essential role of quantum geometry in enabling nontrivial transport signatures in SFBs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.20093,
  title  = {Quantum-geometry-enabled Landau-Zener tunneling in singular flat bands},
  author = {Xuanyu Long and Feng Liu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.20093},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

6 pages, 3 figures, plus supplementary materials; fixed equation cross-references