Reading Altermagnetic Domains with Photon Drag

Abstract

Finite photon momentum allows second-order photocurrents in centrosymmetric space groups, where the conventional bulk photovoltaic effect is forbidden. Here we study the photon-drag response of altermagnets and show that its angular dependence reveals both the symmetry of the magnetic order and the Néel domain of the sample. For example, when a crystal rotation exchanges the two domains, the domain-even and domain-odd parts of the current appear in different angular harmonics, $4n$ and $4n+2$ for tetragonal $d$-wave altermagnets, so that two measurements rotated by $90^\circ$ on a single domain isolate the domain-odd current. We also find that these microscopic contributions exhibit opposite domain parities depending on light polarization. Under linear light, only the shift term is domain odd, while under circular light, the domain-odd channel switches to the injection, Fermi-surface, and contact principal-value terms. Mirror symmetries fix the angular phase of each harmonic and distinguish $d_{x^2-y^2}$, $d_{xy}$, and $g$-wave order. In contrast, conventional collinear antiferromagnets show no domain-odd photon-drag current, and in tetragonal ferromagnets the two parts share the same harmonics. Although the altermagnetic spin splitting does not require spin-orbit coupling (SOC), SOC is essential to observe the domain-odd charge current. Our work uncovers distinct signatures of altermagnetism in photon drag and provides a route to all optical magnetic readouts of altermagnets.