Bifurcations in coupled nanolasers (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

Two coupled-cavity systems, or « photonic dimers », are efficient test-beds for nonlinear dynamics in nanophotonics. I will focus on two evanescently coupled photonic crystal nanolasers, which can be engineered to experimentally access interesting bifurcation points. I will discuss our recent results on two emblematic bifurcations: spatial symmetry breaking (pitchfork) and asymmetric mode switching (Hopf). Importantly, the underlying nanophotonic structure enables a high degree of control, for instance in terms of intercavity coupling parameters. A second important aspect to be discussed is the role of noise in these relatively large spontaneous emission factor (β) lasers. The interplay between determinism and noise at bifurcation points results in a very rich photon statistics which, in the case of mode switching instabilities, leads to strong dips in the cross-correlation of mode fluctuations. These results open up interesting prospects in the study of few photon bifurcations in semiconductor laser devices.