Manipulation of nonreciprocal microwave photon transmission with low-pump magnetostriction

Nonreciprocity in a material arises when time-reversal symmetry is broken due to the material’s inherent nonlinearity. In a cavity magnomechanical system, this symmetry is disrupted by the magneto-optic effect and magnetostriction, which influence the phase of the intracavity fields. In this work, we demonstrate careful manipulations of nonreciprocity through the phenomenon of nonlinear magnetostrictive interaction within a ferrimagnetic material (YIG sphere) enclosed in a microwave photonic cavity system. We propose a system comprising two microwave cavities, a YIG sphere, and a phononic mode. It is noteworthy that a low-pump magnetic drive field can generate phonon modes inside the YIG sphere, while Kerr nonlinearities can be omitted here due to the application of low pumping. The magnon mode interacts with the phonon mode through nonlinear magnetostrictive coupling and with the microwave cavity photons via magnetic dipole moments. By tuning the system parameters, we reveal the conversion of reciprocal to nonreciprocal signal transfer and its manipulation through magnetic dipole moments and magnetostrictive interactions. Our findings in this hybrid magnomechanical microwave cavity system can be utilized in various devices such as microwave isolators, filters, circulators, and other microwave communication systems.