Symmetry breaking in photonic crystal waveguide coupled with the dipole modes of a nonlinear optical cavity

Abstract

We present stable symmetry breaking solutions in a nonlinear optical cavity with dipole eigenmodes embedded into the propagation band of a directional photonic crystal waveguide for symmetric injecting condition. We demonstrate how this phenomenon can be exploited for all-optical switching of light transmission from the one side of the waveguide to another by application of input pulses. When the light injected to both sides of the waveguide has equal intensities but different phases, we reveal a wealth of new solutions.