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 alteration 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 magnon 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.