Pascal DelHaye

Ultra-high-Q microresonators can confine extremely large amounts of optical energy in tiny mode volumes. This talk will focus on recent realizations of nonlinear interaction of counterpropagating light in these resonators. Particularly, above a certain threshold power, light of a given frequency can only circulate in one direction. Experimental and theoretical results show spontaneous symmetry breaking that follows from the interaction of the counterpropagating light. The resulting nonreciprocity of the light propagation in the microresonators can be used for novel applications including integrated photonic isolators and circulators.