Nonlinear dynamics and chaos in dissipative optical trimers with complex couplings

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex dynamics of a nonlinear, non-Hermitian optical trimer, revealing stable, oscillatory, and chaotic regimes driven by Kerr nonlinearity and complex couplings, with implications for nonlinear and non-Hermitian photonics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of chaos and bifurcation structures in a nonlinear optical trimer with complex couplings, combining numerical and semi-analytical methods.

Findings

Stable stationary and oscillatory regimes identified

Chaotic dynamics confirmed via Lyapunov exponents

Bifurcation structure elucidated through continuation methods

Abstract

In the context of non-Hermitian photonics, we consider a nonlinear optical trimer with three lossy waveguides with complex couplings. This non-Hermitian trimer exhibits stable stationary and oscillatory regimes in a wide range of values of the coupling-loss parameters. Moreover, chaotic dynamics through period-doubling is confirmed via Lyapunov exponent measurements and the underlying bifurcation structure is found by semi-analytical continuation of solutions. The interplay of chaos, due to Kerr nonlinearity, and non-Hermiticity, due to the combined dissipation and complex coupling, provides a different perspective in the area of nonlinear and non-Hermitian optics.