Spontaneous symmetry breaking and the dynamics of three interacting nonlinear optical resonators with gain and loss

The dynamics of two active nonlinear resonators coupled to a linear resonator is studied theoretically. Possible stationary states and their dynamical stability are considered in detail. Spontaneous symmetry breaking is found and it is shown that this bifurcation results in the formation of asymmetric states. It is also found that the oscillating states can occur in the system in a certain range of parameters. The results of the analysis of the stationary states are confirmed by direct numerical simulations. The possibility of switching between different states is also demonstrated by numerical experiments.