Chaotic Dynamics and Optical Power Saturation in Parity-Time (PT) Symmetric Double Ring Resonator

We report emergence of saturation and chaotic spiking of optical power in a double ring resonator with balanced loss and gain, obeying the so-called parity-time symmetry. We have modeled the system using a discrete-time iterative equation known as the Ikeda Map. In the linear regime, evolution of optical power in the system shows power saturation behavior below the PT threshold and exponential blow-up above the PT threshold. We found that in the unbroken PT regime, optical power saturation occurs owing to the existence of stable stationary states, which lies on the surface of 4-dimensional hypersphere. Inclusion of Kerr nonlinearity into our model leads to the emergence of a stable, chaotic and divergent region in the parameter basin for period-1 cycle. A closer inspection into the system shows us that the largest Lyapunov exponent blows up in the divergent region. It is found that the existence of high non-negative largest Lyapunov exponent causes chaotic spiking of optical power in the resonators.