Fractional Magnonic Frequency Combs

Abstract

Magnonic frequency combs (MFCs) are spectacular phenomena in microwave-driven high-quality magnets. Like the equally spaced prongs in a comb, conventional \textit{integer} MFCs are sharp resonances with an equal and constant frequency difference. Here we report \textit{fractional} MFCs in a high-quality magnetic sphere that emerges when adding a low-power, precisely detuned microwave to the main drive that compresses the frequency spacings to a rational fraction of the original comb, generating high-density spectral grids with hundreds of lines. The theoretical analysis finds that parametric three-magnon scattering is the dominant non-linear process that reproduces the observation well. This mechanism is unique to magnets: it does not exist in an optomechanical system, where the Kerr and optical nonlinearities govern comb formation at a much higher power input. Since our platform operates as a frequency ``vernier caliper" with much higher sensitivity than integer MFCs, it has application potential in precision metrology.