Topological control of corner and edge states in an altermagnetic monolayer
Phys. Rev. B 113, 155428 – Published 16 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bkhw-bxgp
Abstract
Discoveries of both altermagnets and topological states have profoundly reshaped our understanding of condensed-matter physics and materials. However, tunable topological states in altermagnets remain largely unexplored. Here, we put forward the realization of second-order topological insulator (SOTI) and topological crystalline insulator (TCI) in two-dimensional altermagnets, and, in particular, demonstrate the feasibility of achieving a tunable topological phase transition with different bulk-boundary correspondence, i.e., from SOTI to TCI. As a concrete example, we consider the monolayer to test the proposed scheme. The monolayer is a prototypical material for altermagnets, and under equilibrium condition, it is a SOTI distinguished by well-localized nontrivial corner states. Remarkably, armed with preserved mirror symmetry , biaxial strain provides an effective means to engineer a topological phase transition in the monolayer from SOTI to TCI, which is unambiguously confirmed by the calculated mirror Chern number = 1 and emergence of gapless edge states. Moreover, after the topological phase transition, an almost quantized plateau of the spin Hall conductivity is observed in the altermagnetic monolayer. Our work provides a concrete material platform for exploring the interplay between nontrivial band topology and altermagnetism, with promising implications for low-dissipation spintronics.