Coexistence of dark vector soliton Kerr combs in normal dispersion resonators

Abstract

We investigate the formation of dark vector dissipative solitons in the presence of nonlinear polarization mode coupling in optical resonators subject to a coherent optical injection in the normal dispersion regime. This simple device is described by coupled Lugiato-Lefever equations. The stabilization of dark dissipative solitons is attributed to a front locking mechanism in the bistable regime as shown in a recent communication [B. Kostet et al., OSA Continuum 4, 1564 (2021)]. Here, we focus on a tristable homogeneous steady state regime. We show that two branches of dark dissipative solitons can coexist for a fixed value of the system parameters. These coexisting solutions possess different polarization states and different peak powers in the microresonator. We characterize their formation by drawing their bifurcation diagrams in regimes far from any modulational instability. It is shown that both branches of localized structures exhibit a heteroclinic collapsed snaking type of behavior. The coexistence of two vectorial branches of dark localized states is not possible without taking into account polarization degrees of freedom.