Signal processing by opto-optical interactions between self-localized and free propagating beams in liquid crystals

A. Pasquazi, A. Alberucci, M. Peccianti, and G. Assanto

Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 261104 (2005)

Abstract:

The reorientational nonlinearity of nematic liquid crystals enables a self-localized spatial soliton and its waveguide to be deflected or destroyed by a control beam propagating across the cell. We demonstrate a simple all-optical readdressing scheme by exploiting the lens-like perturbation induced by an external beam on both a nematicon and a copolarized guided signal of different wavelength. Angular steering as large as 2.2 deg was obtained for control powers as low as 32 mW in the near infrared.