We propose a detailed stability analysis of the Lugiato-Lefever model for Kerr optical frequency combs in whispering gallery mode resonators pumped in the normal dispersion regime. We analyze the spatial bifurcation structure of the stationary states depending on two parameters that are experimentally tunable, namely the pump power and the cavity detuning. Our study demonstrates that the non-trivial equilibria play an important role in this bifurcation map, as their associated eigenvalues undergo critical bifurcations that are foreshadowing the existence of localized spatial structures. In particular, we show that in the normal dispersion regime, dark cavity solitons can emerge in the system, and thereby generate a Kerr comb. We also show how these solitons can coexist in the resonator as long as they do not interact with each other. The Kerr combs created by these (sets of) dark solitons are also analyzed, and their stability is discussed as well.

The Lugiato-Lefever equation is a cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation, including damping, detuning and driving, which arises as a model in nonlinear optics. We study the existence of stationary waves which are found as solutions of a four-dimensional reversible dynamical system in which the evolutionary variable is the space variable. Relying upon tools from bifurcation theory and normal forms theory, we discuss the codimension 1 bifurcations. We prove the existence of various types of steady solutions, including spatially localized, periodic, or quasiperiodic solutions.

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