Symmetry breaking and intensity switching of counterpropagating Raman waves in a microresonator.

We experimentally demonstrate symmetry breaking, symmetry restoring, and intensity switching of counterpropagating Raman waves in a microresonator with symmetric intracavity waves at the pump frequency. Stationary symmetric and asymmetric states of Raman waves are theoretically found within a symmetric system of equations, and asymmetric branches of solutions turned out to be unstable. To explain the experimental results, it is proposed that there is a weak asymmetry in the system that radically changes the system behavior, which has been confirmed by numerical simulations.