Fano resonance as detection of low-damping magnon pairs: Theory and experiment

Abstract: We probe the broadband nonlinear magnetization dynamics of a high-quality magnetic sphere under a strong microwave drive using microwave spectroscopy. We observe a \textit{Fano resonance} in the microwave transmission when the driven amplitude of the magnetization is large and the drive frequency $\omega_d$ is close to but not at the ferromagnetic resonance. When the drive frequency is very close to the ferromagnetic resonance, the microwave transmission splits into two absorption dips. We interpret the unexpected Fano resonance by a scattering theory of photons considering the three-magnon interaction between the Kittel magnon and magnon pairs with opposite wave vectors of frequency $\omega_d/2$. The theoretical model suggests that the microwave spectroscopy measures the dynamics of the fluctuation $\delta \hat{\alpha}$ of the Kittel magnon and $\delta\hat{\beta}{\pm k}$ of the magnon pairs over the driven steady states, which are coupled coherently by the steady-state amplitudes. When the damping of $\delta\hat{\beta}{\pm k}$ is much smaller than that of $\delta \hat{\alpha}$, the theoretical calculation can well reproduce the observed Fano resonance. Mode fluctuations with a low damping should be useful for quantum information and logic operations in future magnonic devices.