Symmetry-Broken Cavity Solitons and Collective Polarization Conformity in Fabry-Perot Kerr Resonators

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the experimental creation of polarization symmetry-broken cavity solitons in a fiber-based Fabry-Perot Kerr resonator, revealing collective polarization effects and novel soliton dynamics not seen in ring resonators.

Contribution

It reports the first experimental observation of polarization symmetry-broken cavity solitons and collective polarization conformity in Fabry-Perot Kerr resonators, highlighting new collective behaviors.

Findings

Polarization symmetry-broken cavity solitons observed

Collective polarization conformity effect demonstrated

Distinct soliton dynamics in Fabry-Perot resonators

Abstract

We report on the experimental generation of polarization symmetry-broken cavity solitons (CSs) in a passive, fiber-based, coherently-driven, Fabry-Perot (FP) Kerr resonator. Polarization resolved measurements reveal the spontaneous transition of initially symmetric CSs into asymmetrical vectorial states, triggered by a cross-phase modulation-induced polarization bifurcation. Most notably, due to counter-propagation of light occurring in FP resonators, we unveil a collective polarization conformity effect, whereby multiple CSs circulating in the cavity converge to the same asymmetric polarization state once their number exceeds a certain threshold. These results demonstrate that Fabry-Perot resonators support novel collective soliton dynamics that are absent in ring architectures.