Topological phases of matter are known to be unstable against strong onsite disorder in one dimension. In this work, however, we propose that in the case of a topological ladder, an onsite quasiperiodic potential under proper conditions, first destroys the initial topological phase (TP) and subsequently, induces another TP through a gap-closing point. Remarkably, by allowing a staggered flux piercing through the plaquettes of the ladder, the gapless critical point bifurcates into two gapless critical lines, resulting in a gapped trivial phase sandwiched between the two TPs. This results in a scenario where the system first undergoes a transition from one TP to a trivial phase and then to the other TP as a function of the quasiperiodic potential strength. Such quasiperiodicity-induced reentrant topological phase transition reveals a phenomenon of direction reversal in the topological transport, which we identify through Thouless charge pumping.

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• Cold gases in optical lattices
• Topological insulators
• Topological order
• Disordered systems
• Ultracold gases