Trends and trade-offs in nematicon propagation

A. Piccardi, M. Trotta, M. Kwasny, A. Alberucci, R. Asquini, M. Karpierz, A. D'Alessandro and G. Assanto

Appl. Phys. B 104 (4), 805-11 (2011)

Abstract:

We investigate the propagation of nematicons in various nematic liquid crystals.Following some general considerations on the role of material parameters in light self-trapping via a reorientational nonlinear response, we discuss numerical results on light self-action and transverse localization. Finally, we validate our findings with experimental measurements in three liquid crystalline mixtures featuring different amounts of birefringence.