Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen
Del'Haye LabMicrophotonics Research Laboratory

Research

Symmetry breaking and neuromorphic photonics

When light circulates in both directions of a Kerr resonator, or in coupled resonators, it can spontaneously favour one state over another. We use this symmetry breaking for on-chip optical switches, memories and logic gates, and study how light distributes itself in chains of coupled resonators. These building blocks point towards neuromorphic computing with light.

Selected publications

  1. Symmetry-Broken Cavity Solitons and Collective Polarization Conformity in Fabry-Perot Kerr ResonatorsY. G. Sanvert, A. Alabbadi, L. Hill, Y. Xu, G. Xu, G. -L. Oppo, S. Coen, E. Lucas, P. Del'Haye, and J. FatomearXiv:2602.21946 (Feb 2026)Computed bifurcation diagrams of cavity solitons versus detuning, with intensity profiles of the two field components
  2. Exceptional points preceding and enabling spontaneous symmetry breakingL. Hill, J. T. Gohsrich, A. Ghosh, J. Fauman, P. Del'Haye, and F. K. KunstCommun. Phys. 9, 58 (Jan 2026)arXiv:2505.02691Diagrams of a system property versus a control parameter, for systems where the exceptional point coincides with symmetry breaking and where it does not
  3. Color symmetry breaking in a nonlinear optical microcavityL. O. Trinchão, A. Ghosh, A. Pal, H. Yan, T. Bi, S. Zhang, N. B. Tomazio, F. K. Kunst, L. Hill, G. S. Wiederhecker, and P. Del'HayearXiv:2601.00792 (Jan 2026)Illustration of broadband symmetry breaking: comb spectra drawn as coloured peaks along a mode-index axis
  4. Phase Symmetry Breaking of Counterpropagating Light in Microresonators for Switches and Logic GatesA. Ghosh, A. Pal, S. Zhang, L. Hill, T. Bi, and P. Del’HayeLaser Photonics Rev. 20, e01500 (2026)arXiv:2407.16625Rendering of an optical logic gate: four ring resonators connected by waveguides on a chip
  5. Integrated optical switches based on Kerr symmetry breaking in microresonatorsY. Zhang, S. Zhang, A. Ghosh, A. Pal, G. N. Ghalanos, T. Bi, H. Yan, H. Zhang, Y. Zhuang, L. Hill, and P. Del’HayePhoton. Res. 13, 360 (Jan 2025)Two chip schematics of a ring resonator with arrows, labelled 0 (clockwise) and 1 (counter-clockwise)
  6. Controlled light distribution with coupled microresonator chains via Kerr symmetry breakingA. Ghosh, A. Pal, L. Hill, G. N. Campbell, T. Bi, Y. Zhang, A. Alabbadi, S. Zhang, and P. Del’HayePhoton. Res. 12, 2376 (Oct 2024)arXiv:2402.10673Two rows of five red ring resonators on a blue background, with the red glow varying along each row
  7. Symmetry Broken Vectorial Kerr Frequency Combs from Fabry-Pérot ResonatorsL. Hill, E.-M. Hirmer, G. N. Campbell, T. Bi, A. Ghosh, P. Del’Haye, and G.-L. OppoCommun. Phys. 7 (Mar 2024)arXiv:2308.05039Schematic of a Kerr Fabry-Pérot cavity: laser input, two mirrors around a Kerr medium with counter-propagating light fields, and the output
  8. Four-field symmetry breakings in twin-resonator photonic isomersA. Ghosh, L. Hill, G.-L. Oppo, and P. Del'HayePhys. Rev. Res. 5, L042012 (Oct 2023)arXiv:2305.03583Two schematics of coupled ring resonators with waveguides, and a graph of circulating intensities versus input power with branching curves

All publications

From the news

MPL newsPascal Del'Haye elected Optica Fellow
Congratulations, Dr. Alekhya Ghosh!
Phase Symmetry Breaking for Switches and Logic Gates
Integrated optical switches based on symmetry breaking
Linear and Nonlinear Coupling of Light in Twin-Rods
Nonlinear Light Distribution in CROWs