We report the study of the effect of a static electric field on the huge optical nonlinearity of methyl-red doped nematic liquid crystals. Experimental data are well fitted using a theoretical model that takes into account the modulation of the surface charge density due to the impinging light beam. It is demonstrated that the optical nonlinearity can be varied by orders of magnitude with application of a low voltage below the threshold of the Fredericks transition. These results confirm the previously proposed model of surface induced nonlinear effects.
Surface-induced nonlinearities of liquid crystals driven by an electric field / Lucchetti, Liana; M., Gentili; Simoni, Francesco; S., Pavliuchenko; S., Subota; V., Reshetnyak. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS. - ISSN 1539-3755. - 78:(2008), pp. 061706-1-061706-8. [10.1103/PhysRevE.78.061706]
Surface-induced nonlinearities of liquid crystals driven by an electric field
LUCCHETTI, Liana
Primo
Membro del Collaboration Group
;SIMONI, FrancescoSupervision
;
2008-01-01
Abstract
We report the study of the effect of a static electric field on the huge optical nonlinearity of methyl-red doped nematic liquid crystals. Experimental data are well fitted using a theoretical model that takes into account the modulation of the surface charge density due to the impinging light beam. It is demonstrated that the optical nonlinearity can be varied by orders of magnitude with application of a low voltage below the threshold of the Fredericks transition. These results confirm the previously proposed model of surface induced nonlinear effects.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
