Abstract

Laser beam propagation in a nematic liquid crystal (LC) film is a fascinating problem. Not only does it exhibit some very unique highly nonlinear optical phenomena, but it also displays unusually rich nonlinear dynamic behavior. It has been demonstrated that a sufficiently strong laser field can induce a Freedericksz transition (an orientational structural transition) in a nematic film. Consider a homeotropic film with molecules aligned parallel to the surface normal. Above the transition threshold, a linearly polarized beam normally incident on the film can distort the homeotropic alignment by reorienting the molecules against the elastic torque, while a circularly polarized beam can, in addition to the distortion of alignment, cause the molecules to process uniformly about the surface normal.

© 1990 Optical Society of America