Quantum Geometry of Altermagnetic Magnons Probed by Light

Abstract:Magnons with momentum-dependent chirality are a key signature of altermagnets. We identify bicircular light as a smoking-gun optical probe for chiral altermagnetic magnons, selectively targeting their quantum geometry induced by an alternation of magnonic chirality. We show that in $d$-wave altermagnets, under a canting magnetic field, the altermagnetic magnons realize a nontrivial quantum geometry, resulting in an enhancement of the nonlinear second-order light-magnon interactions. We find that the scattering of bicircular pulses probes the present magnonic quantum geometry, even if the magnonic topology is trivial. Hence, our findings establish bicircular Raman response as an optical effect of choice to identify altermagnetic magnons. As such, we propose a universal experimental protocol to distinguish altermagnets from antiferromagnets by detecting their magnon chirality patterns with light, independently of the underlying magnon topology.

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci); Optics (physics.optics); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

arXiv:2508.02781 [cond-mat.mes-hall]

(or arXiv:2508.02781v2 [cond-mat.mes-hall] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.02781 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 106901 (2026)

https://doi.org/10.1103/12cl-b9jj Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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