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