Multi-stage spontaneous symmetry breaking of light in Kerr ring resonators

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Hill, Lewis and Oppo, Gian-Luca and Del’Haye, Pascal (2023) Multi-stage spontaneous symmetry breaking of light in Kerr ring resonators. Communications Physics, 6 (1). 208. ISSN 2399-3650 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01329-3)

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Abstract

Symmetry breaking of light states is of interest for the understanding of nonlinear optics, photonic circuits, telecom applications and optical pulse generation. Here we demonstrate multi-stage symmetry breaking of the resonances of ring resonators with Kerr nonlinearity. This multi-stage symmetry breaking naturally occurs in a resonator with bidirectionally propagating light with orthogonal polarization components. The derived model used to theoretically describe the system shows that the four circulating field components can display full symmetry, full asymmetry, and multiple versions of partial symmetry, and are later shown to result in complex oscillatory dynamics - such as four-field self-switching, and unusual pulsing with extended delays between subsequent peaks. To highlight a few examples, our work has application in the development of photonic devices like isolators and circulators, logic gates, and random numbers generators, and could also be used for optical-sensors, e.g. by further enhancing the Sagnac effect.

ORCID iDs

Hill, Lewis, Oppo, Gian-Luca ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5376-4309 and Del’Haye, Pascal;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:86491
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    December 2023
    Published
    9 August 2023
    Published Online
    28 July 2023
    Accepted
    15 November 2022
    Submitted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:15 Aug 2023 15:18
    Last modified:11 Dec 2024 22:18
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/86491
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