Nonlinear wave guiding in nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

Waveguiding in liquid crystals can be achieved by controlling the molecular orientation by means of external fields or by shaping the geometry of the substrates that contain the liquid crystal material. The creation of these waveguides in liquid crystals can also be achieved by using the optical nonlinear properties of the material. For a sufficient optical power (in the order of a few mW), the beam can induce its own optical waveguide. This is a selfinduced waveguide and the resulting beam is referred to as a soliton beam. In the last few years, the properties of these soliton beams have been studied thoroughly, revealing some interesting phenomena. In this article, simulations are reported on two common configurations in which solitons have been generated experimentally. The soliton beam, for certain configurations, displays an undulative behavior inside the cell, which may be used for large angle steering of the optical beam.