Beam combining using orientational stimulated scattering in liquid crystals

Abstract

Possibility of beam combining and clean-up using Orientational Stimulated Scattering in a Nematic Liquid Crystal is considered. We numerically study the dynamics of the process and find that back-conversion process tends to limit the effective interaction strength.Instability of the steady state of cross-phase modulation is demonstrated, when both waves have the same frequency. We show that high conversion efficiency can be achieved, and that the shape and wave-front of the amplified output signal are robust with respect to amplitude and phase distortions of the input pump.

Liquid-crystal diffraction gratings using polarization holography alignment techniques

“…Using the thin-screen approximation, the pitch-to-cell gap ratio can be optimized to achieve high diffraction efficiency. 7,8…”

“…To achieve high diffraction efficiency the pitch-to-cell gap ratio can be optimized using the thin-screen approximation. 7,8…”

“…The potential to create highly efficient polarization gratings has been established by various groups. 7,8,36,37 Sarkissian and co-workers have demonstrated that a thin-film approximation results in high diffraction of normally incident light into the first orders. Highly efficient thin gratings have potential applications in the display, 38 optical communication, 39 and optical security industries.…”

“…Highly efficient thin gratings have potential applications in the display, 38 optical communication, 39 and optical security industries. 40 Example applications that may capitalize on the polarization gratings discussed in this paper include projection, 7,8 beam splitting devices, 41 polarization dispersion control, 42 and compensation devices. 43 It is a subject of future study to optimize the diffraction efficiency within the framework of thin-screen approximation and to target specific applications.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Although the disclosed polarization gratings are "thin" gratings, the thin-screen approximation predicts high diffraction into the first diffraction orders making them attractive for optical devices. 7,8 These gratings may have numerous applications in photonic systems and displays, including highly efficient projection displays, wide-viewing and direct-view displays, polarized beam splitting devices, multiplexing, and polarization dispersion applications. In this paper we investigate the structure of a number of gratings formed using polarization holography for liquid-crystal alignment.…”