Cyclotron quantization and mirror-time transition on nonreciprocal lattices

Abstract

Unidirectional transport and localized cyclotron motion are two opposite physical phenomena. Here, we study the interplay effects between them on nonreciprocal lattices subject to a magnetic field. We show that, in the long-wavelength limit, the trajectories of the wave packets always form closed orbits in four-dimensional complex space. Therefore, the semiclassical quantization rules persist despite the nonreciprocity, which preserves real Landau levels. We predict a different type of non-Hermitian spectral transition induced by the spontaneous breaking of the combined mirror-time reversal ($\mathcal{MT}$) symmetry, which generally exists in such systems. An order parameter is proposed to describe the $\mathcal{MT}$ phase transition, not only to determine the $\mathcal{MT}$ phase boundary but also to quantify the degree of $\mathcal{MT}$-symmetry breaking. Such an order parameter can be generally applied to all types of non-Hermitian phase transitions.