Exotic charge order in RuO₂thin films

The recently proposed altermagnetism in RuO₂ has sparked significant theoretical and experimental interest in this compound. Derived from ARPES data, the strong Fermi surface nesting in RuO₂ suggests a susceptibility to electron correlations. Using the density matrix renormalization group, we demonstrate that this nesting favours a charge density wave instability over a spin density wave, which could be probed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Our findings open new avenues for exploring the interplay between single- and many-body physics in RuO₂ thin films.