Topological flat bands and higher-order topology in square-octagon lattice

Abstract: Extensive recent research on Lieb and kagome lattices highlights their unique physics characterized by the coexistence of Dirac points, van Hove singularities, and flat bands. In these models, flat bands are typically pinned at the center of the Lieb spectrum or the extrema of kagome bands, offering limited tunability. In this work, we investigate the square-octagon lattice and demonstrate that flat bands generated through next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) hoppings can be tuned with intercell hoppings or staggered magnetic fluxes. Importantly, the introduction of staggered magnetic fluxes leads to the emergence of a Chern insulator phase and a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) state at half-filling. An appropriate magnetic flux combined with NNN hopping can generate topological flat bands in the Chern insulator phase, exhibiting nontrivial Chern number and chiral edge states. The HOTI phase, in contrast, is characterized by topological corner states with quantized quadrupole moment within the bulk and edge states gap. We also present phase diagrams for the square-octagon lattice as functions of NNN and intercell hoppings under staggered magnetic fluxes. Our results indicate that the square-octagon lattice offers a promising platform for realizing topological flat bands, HOTI, and other topological and nontopological phases.