Abstract

We study a planar model of a nonrelativistic electron in periodic magnetic and electric fields that produce a 1D crystal for two spin components separated by a half-period spacing. We fit the fields to create a self-isospectral pair of finite-gap associated Lamé equations shifted for a half-period, and show that the system obtained is characterized by a new type of supersymmetry. It is a special nonlinear supersymmetry generated by three commuting integrals of motion, related to the parity-odd operator of the associated Lax pair, that coherently reflects the band structure and all its peculiarities. In the infinite-period limit it provides an unusual picture of supersymmetry breaking. © 2008 The American Physical Society.