Quantum Hall effect and Chern phases in the 1/5-depleted square lattice
Phys. Rev. B 112, 165303 – Published 8 October, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hnxp-kn4r
Abstract
We investigate the fractal energy spectrum and quantum Hall response of a two-dimensional 1/5-depleted square lattice subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field. Using a tight-binding model that includes both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor hopping, we compute the Hofstadter butterfly and extract quantized Hall conductivities via Chern number calculations. In the absence of diagonal hopping , the spectrum exhibits exact particle-hole and flux-inversion symmetries, and the total Chern number across all bands vanishes. When is introduced, these symmetries are broken, the butterfly becomes deformed, new gaps open, and remarkably a nonzero total Chern sum can emerge, signaling unconventional topological phases. By systematically varying and , we identify regimes with large individual Chern indices and parameter windows where gap stability and Hall plateaus are optimized. Our results demonstrate that lattice depletion combined with diagonal hopping provides a tunable route to engineer robust Chern insulators in both artificial and oxide-based square-lattice systems.