Controlling Light by Light: Optical Modulation in Chiral Nematics

• Authors: M. Sierakowski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Nonlinear optics of chiral liquid-crystalline media have been in scope of our interest for several years. Our previous observations in the subject had already been reported. This paper discusses a possibility of utilising the nonlinear optical properties of liquid crystals for practical purposes. We discuss an idea of "in line" intensity measurements of laser beam. The idea is based on two optical phenomena which are observed in liquid-crystalline media possessing a periodically stratified structure: nonlinear optical effect and selective light reflection. The effects start to appear by activating light intensities of the order of MW/m^{2}, so the method can be potentially applied at present to high-intensity light beams (corresponding laser power is approximately 0.1 W), although there are now also prospects to lower this value significantly.

Keywords

EN

42.65.-k; 42.81.Wg; 42.70.Df

Discipline

• 42.65.-k: Nonlinear optics
• 42.81.Wg: Other fiber-optical devices(for fiber lasers, see 42.55.Wd)
• 42.70.Df: Liquid crystals(for structure of liquid crystals, see 61.30.-v)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 1999
• Volume: 95
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 777-782

Dates

published

1999-05

Contributors

author

M. Sierakowski

• Institute of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland

Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.95.777