Nonlinear optical properties of nematic liquid crystals (NLC) have been investigated. A technique for efficient laser frequency conversion in a microscopic NLC volume deposited on an optical fibre end face is experimentally demonstrated. An efficient design of a compact NLC-based IR frequency converter with a fibre input and achromatic collimator is proposed and implemented. Simultaneous generation of the second and third harmonics is obtained for the first time under pumping NLC by a 1.56-mm femtosecond fibre laser. The second-harmonic generation efficiency is measured to be about 1 %, while the efficiency of third-harmonic generation is several tenths of percent. A strong polarisation dependence of the third-harmonic generation efficiency is revealed. When pumping NLC by a cw laser, generation of spectral supercontinua (covering the visible and near-IR spectral ranges) is observed. The nonlinear effects revealed can be due to the light-induced change in the orientational order in liquid crystals, which breaks the initial symmetry and leads to formation of disclination structures. The NLC optical nonlinearity is believed to be of mixed orientationalelectronic nature as a whole.

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Abstract. We report the recent results of research focused on a new kind of soft matter -the liquid-crystal nanocomposites with controllable mechanical and nonlinear optical properties. These are promising media for implementation of ultra-compact photonic devices and efficient sources of coherent radiation in a wide spectral range. We overview the technology of preparation of nematic-liquid-crystal media saturated with disclination defects. The defects were formed in different ways: by embedding nanoparticles and molecular objects, by exposure to alpha-particle flux. The defect locations were controlled by applying an electric field. We also present and discuss the recently discovered features of nematic-liquid-crystal media: a thermal orientation effect leading to the fifth-order optical nonlinearity, enormous second-order susceptibility revealed by measurements, and structural changes upon exposure to laser radiation. We report on efficient generation of harmonics, sum and difference optical frequencies in nematic-liquid-crystal media. In addition, transformation of laser radiation spectra to spectral supercontinua, and filamentation of laser beams were also observed in nematic-liquid-crystal media. We conclude that most nonlinear optical effects result from changes of the orientational order in the examined nematic liquid crystals. These changes lead to the symmetry breaking and disclination appearances.