Subthreshold phonon generation in an optomechanical system with an exceptional point

Abstract

We consider a phonon laser based on an optomechanical system consisting of two optical modes interacting with each other via a phononic mode. An external wave exciting one of the optical modes plays the role of the pumping. We show that in this system at some amplitude of the external wave an exceptional point exists. When the external wave amplitude is less than one corresponding to the exceptional point, the splitting of the eigenfrequencies takes place. We demonstrate that in this case, the periodic modulation of the external wave amplitude can result in simultaneous generation of photons and phonons even below the threshold of optomechanical instability.