RT Journal Article T1 Tunable zero modes and quantum interferences in flat-band topological insulators A1 Zurita Alonso, Juan Aurelio A1 Creffield, Charles A1 Platero, Gloria AB We investigate the interplay between Aharonov-Bohm (AB) caging and topological protection in a family of quasi-one-dimensional topological insulators, which we term CSSH ladders. Hybrids of the Creutz ladder and the SSH chain, they present a regime with completely flat bands, and a rich topological phase diagram, with several kinds of protected zero modes. These are reminiscent of the Creutz ladder edge states in some cases, and of the SSH chain edge states in others. Furthermore, their high degree of tunability, and the fact that they remain topologically protected even in small systems in the rungless case, due to AB caging, make them suitable for quantum information purposes. One of the ladders can belong to the BDI, AIII and D symmetry classes depending on its parameters, the latter being unusual in a non-superconducting model. Two of the models can also harbor topological end modes which do not follow the usual bulk-boundary correspondence, and are instead related to a Chern number. Finally, we propose some experimental setups to implement the CSSH ladders with current technology, focusing on the photonic lattice case. PB Verein Forderung Open Access Publizierens Quantenwissenschaf SN 2521-327X YR 2021 FD 2021-11-25 LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4575 UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4575 LA eng NO © 2021 Verein Forderung Open Access Publizierens QuantenwissenschafWe would like to thank Alvaro Gomez-Leon and Luca Leonforte for fruitful discussions. C. E. Creffield was supported by Spain's MINECO through Grant No. FIS2017-84368-P. G. Platero and J. Zurita were supported by Spain's MINECO through Grants No. MAT2017-86717-P and PID2020-117787GB-I00 and by CSIC Research Platform PTI-001. J. Zurita recognizes the FPU program FPU19/03575. NO Ministerio de Economía y Ciencia (MINECO) NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) NO Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) DS Docta Complutense RD 9 may 2025