Nematicons Spatial Optical Solitons in Nematic Liquid Crystals [Hardcover]

The first book of its kind to introduce the fundamentals, basic features and models, potential applications and novel phenomena and its important applications in liquid crystal technology.

Recognized leader in the field Gaetano Assanto outlines the peculiar characteristics of nematicons and the promise they have for the future growth of this captivating new field.

Acknowledgments xvii

Contributors xix

Chapter 1. Nematicons 1
Gaetano Assanto, Alessandro Alberucci, and Armando Piccardi

1.1 Introduction 1

1.1.1 Nematic Liquid Crystals 1

1.1.2 Nonlinear Optics and Solitons 3

1.1.3 Initial Results on Light Self-Focusing in Liquid Crystals 3

1.2 Models 4

1.2.1 Scalar Perturbative Model 5

1.2.2 Anisotropic Perturbative Model 9

1.3 Numerical Simulations 13

1.3.1 Nematicon Profile 13

1.3.2 Gaussian Input 14

1.4 Experimental Observations 17

1.4.1 Nematicon–Nematicon Interactions 22

1.4.2 Modulational Instability 26

1.5 Conclusions 31

References 33

Chapter 2. Features of Strongly Nonlocal Spatial Solitons 37
Qi Guo, Wei Hu, Dongmei Deng, Daquan Lu, and Shigen Ouyang

2.1 Introduction 37

2.2 Phenomenological Theory of Strongly Nonlocal Spatial Solitons 38

2.2.1 The Nonlinearly Induced Refractive Index Change of Materials 38

2.2.2 From the Nonlocal Nonlinear Schr¨odinger Equation to the Snyder–Mitchell Model 39

2.2.3 An Accessible Soliton of the Snyder–Mitchl3