Influence of different disorder types on Aharonov-Bohm caging in the diamond chain

The linear diamond chain with fine-tuned effective magnetic flux has a completely flat energy spectrum and compactly localized eigenmodes, forming an Aharonov-Bohm cage. We study numerically how this localization is affected by different types of disorder (static and time-evolving) relevant to recent realizations of Aharonov-Bohm cages in periodically modulated optical waveguide arrays. We demonstrate robustness of localization under static and time-periodic disorder. In contrast, nonquenched (time-dependent) disorder leads to wave-packet spreading and delocalization. ©2020 American Physical Society11Nsciescopu