Reconfigurable symmetry-broken laser in a symmetric microcavity

Qi-Tao Cao, Ruishan Liu, Heming Wang, Yu-Kun Lu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Stefan Rotter, Qihuang Gong and Yun-Feng Xiao ()
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Qi-Tao Cao: Peking University
Ruishan Liu: Peking University
Heming Wang: Peking University
Yu-Kun Lu: Peking University
Cheng-Wei Qiu: National University of Singapore
Stefan Rotter: Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)
Qihuang Gong: Peking University
Yun-Feng Xiao: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The coherent light source is one of the most important foundations in both optical physics studies and applied photonic devices. However, the whispering gallery microcavity, as a prime platform for novel light sources, has the intrinsically chiral symmetry and severely rules out access to directional light output, all-optical flip-flops, efficient light extraction, etc. Here, we demonstrate a reconfigurable symmetry-broken microlaser in an ultrahigh-Q whispering gallery microcavity with the symmetric structure, in which a chirality of lasing field is empowered spontaneously by the optical nonlinear effect. Experimentally, the ratio of counter-propagating lasing intensities is found to exceed 160:1, and the chirality can be controlled dynamically and all-optically by the bias in the pump direction. This work not only presents a distinct recipe for coherent light sources with robust and reconfigurable performance, but also opens up an unexplored avenue to symmetry-broken physics in optical micro-structures.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14861-5

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