Modulation analysis of boundary-induced motion of optical solitary waves in a nematic liquid crystal

A. Alberucci, G. Assanto, D. Buccoliero, A. S. Desyatnikov, T. R. Marchant, and N. F. Smyth

Phys. Rev. A 79, 043816 (2009)

Abstract:

We consider the motion of a solitary wave, a nematicon, in a finite cell filled with a nematic liquid crystal. A modulation theory is developed to describe the boundary-induced bouncing of nematicon in a onedimensional cell and it is found to give prediction in very good agreement with numerical solutions. The boundary-induced motion is then considered numerically for a two-dimensional cell and a simple extension of the modulation theory from one to two space dimension is then made, with good agreement being found with numerical solutions for the nematicon trajectory. The role of nematicon shape and relative position to the boundaries in its evolution is discussed.