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Magnon topology driven by altermagnetism

Subhankar Khatua1,2,*, Volodymyr P. Kravchuk1,2,3, Kostiantyn V. Yershov1,3, and Jeroen van den Brink1,2,4

  • *Contact author: s.khatua@ifw-dresden.de
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Phys. Rev. B 112, 214422 – Published 10 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xg1x-sj4c

Abstract

Altermagnets present a class of fully compensated collinear magnetic order, where the two sublattices are not related merely by time-reversal combined with lattice translation or inversion, but require an additional lattice rotation. This distinctive symmetry leads to a characteristic splitting of the magnon bands; however, the splitting is only partial—residual degeneracies persist along certain lines in the Brillouin zone as a consequence of the underlying altermagnetic rotation. We consider a two-dimensional d-wave altermagnetic spin model on the checkerboard lattice and introduce additional interactions such as an external magnetic field and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions that lift these degeneracies. The resulting magnon bands become fully gapped and acquire nontrivial topology, characterized by nonzero Chern numbers. We demonstrate the crucial role of altermagnetism for the generation of the Berry curvature. As a direct consequence of the topological magnons, we find finite thermal Hall conductivity κxy, which exhibits a characteristic low-temperature scaling, κxy∝T4. Moreover, κxy changes signs under reversal of the magnetic field, exhibiting a sharp jump across zero field at low temperatures. We also demonstrate topologically protected chiral edge modes in a finite strip geometry.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 214422– Published 10 December, 2025
  • Received 29 July 2025
  • Revised 29 October 2025
  • Accepted 18 November 2025
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