Evolution of spectral topology in one-dimensional long-range nonreciprocal lattices

Abstract

We investigate the spectral topology of one-dimensional lattices where the nonreciprocal hoppings within the nearest $r_d$ neighboring sites are the same. For the purely off-diagonal model without onsite potentials, the energy spectrum of the lattice under periodic boundary conditions (PBCs) forms an inseparable loop that intertwines with itself in the complex energy plane and is characterized by winding numbers ranging from 1 up to $r_d$. The corresponding spectrum under open boundary conditions (OBCs), which is real in the nearest neighboring model, will ramify and take the shape of an $(r_d+1)$-pointed star with all the branches connected at zero energy. If we further introduce periodic onsite modulations, the spectrum will gradually divide into multiple separable bands as we vary the parameters. Most importantly, we find that a different kind of band gap called loop gap can exist in the PBC spectrum, separating an inner loop from an outer one with each composed by part of the spectrum. In addition, loop structures also exist in the OBC spectra of systems with onsite potentials. We further study the lattices with power-law decaying long-range nonreciprocal hopping and found that the intertwined loops in the PBC spectrum will be untangled. Finally, we propose an experimental scheme to realize the long-range nonreciprocal models by exploiting electrical circuits. Our work unveils the exotic spectral topology in the long-range nonreciprocal lattices.