Symmetry-breaking-induced dynamics in a nonlinear microresonator

Optically induced symmetry-breaking plays a key role in nonlinear photonics. Recently, the experiment has successfully observed the Kerr-nonlinearity-induced chiral symmetry breaking in a single ultrahigh-Q whispering-gallery microresonator. Here, we show this symmetry-breaking can generate exotic dynamics between two counter-propagating modes. In particular, we predict two kinds of self-trappings, in which the corresponding relative phase oscillates around π or runs without bound although they have both the nonzero mean energy imbalance. Finally, we also clarify the impacts of the mode loss, finding a dynamical transition from self-trappings to an anharmonic oscillation. The presented scheme offers a new route to understanding the nonlinear dynamics and wave chaos in the microresonator.