Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking of Cavity Solitons in Coupled Resonators

Coupled resonator systems have recently gained extensive interest for their ability to control the nonlinear interactions of light. The interplay of linear inter-resonator light scattering and Kerr-nonlinearities make these platforms suitable for tuning dispersion, and controlling soliton dynamics [1]. Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in chirality [2] and polarization [3] of light fields are typically observed in single Kerr-resonators. Coupled resonators can show higher dimensional SSBs [4]–[6]. Here, we examine SSB between counterpropagating homogeneous light fields and soliton states in coupled twin resonator systems.