Triple-Resonant Brillouin Light Scattering in Magneto-Optical Cavities

An enhancement in Brillouin light scattering of optical photons with magnons is demonstrated in magneto-optical whispering gallery mode resonators tuned to a triple-resonance point. This occurs when both the input and output optical modes are resonant with those of the whispering gallery resonator, with a separation given by the ferromagnetic resonance frequency. The identification and excitation of specific optical modes allows us to gain a clear understanding of the mode-matching conditions. A selection rule due to wave vector matching leads to an intrinsic single-sideband excitation. Strong suppression of one sideband is essential for one-to-one frequency mapping in coherent optical-to-microwave conversion.