Published June 6, 2005 | Version v1
Journal article

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in photonic lattices: Theory and experiment

  • 1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-4515 (United States)
  • 2. TEDA College, Nankai University, Tianjin 300457 (China)
  • 3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, CA 94132 (United States)
  • 4. Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv (Israel)
  • 5. Department of Physics, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, 15784 Athens (Greece)
  • 6. Mathematical Sciences Research, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974 (United States)
  • 7. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10025 (United States)

Description

We examine an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a double-well waveguide with a symmetric potential. The ground state of the system beyond a critical power becomes asymmetric. The effect is illustrated numerically, and quantitatively analyzed via a Galerkin truncation that clearly shows the bifurcation from a symmetric to an asymmetric steady state. This phenomenon is also demonstrated experimentally when a probe beam is launched appropriately into an optically induced photonic lattice in a photorefractive material

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.physleta.2005.03.038;
arXiv
arXiv:cond-mat/0412381v1;
PII
S0375-9601(05)00428-7;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physics Letters. A
Journal Volume
340
Journal Issue
1-4
Journal Page Range
p. 275-280
ISSN
0375-9601
CODEN
PYLAAG

INIS

Country of Publication
Netherlands
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
37036732
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
ASYMMETRY; BIFURCATION; GROUND STATES; LATTICE FIELD THEORY; POTENTIALS; STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS; SYMMETRY BREAKING; WAVEGUIDES
Descriptors DEC
CONSTRUCTIVE FIELD THEORY; ENERGY LEVELS; FIELD THEORIES; QUANTUM FIELD THEORY

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2005 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.