The optical selection rules dictate symmetry-allowed and forbidden transitions, playing a decisive role in engineering exciton quantum states and designing optoelectronic devices. While both the real (quantum metric) and imaginary (Berry curvature) parts of quantum geometry contribute to optical transitions, the conventional theory of optical selection rules in solids incorporates only Berry curvature. Here, we propose quantum-metric-based optical selection rules. We unveil a universal quantum metric and oscillator strength correspondence for linear polarization of light and establish valley-contrasted optical selection rules that lock orthogonal linear polarizations to distinct valleys. Tight-binding and first-principles calculations confirm our theory in two models (altermagnet and Kane-Mele) and monolayer $d$-wave altermagnet ${\mathrm{V}}_2\mathrm{SeSO}$. This work provides a quantum-metric paradigm for valley-based spintronic and optoelectronic applications.

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• Optical conductivity
• Surface & interfacial phenomena
• Altermagnets
• Semiconductors
• Two-dimensional electron system
• Density functional theory
• Tight-binding model
• Wannier function methods
• k dot p method