We demonstrate that optical spatial solitons with non-rectilinear trajectories can be made to propagate in a uniaxial dielectric with a transversely modulated orientation of the optic axis. Exploiting the reorientational nonlinearity of nematic liquid crystals and imposing a linear variation of the background alignment of the molecular director, we observe solitons whose trajectories have either a monotonic or a non-monotonic curvature in the observation plane of propagation, depending on either the synergistic or counteracting roles of wavefront distortion and birefringent walk-off, respectively. The observed effect is well modelled in the weakly nonlinear regime using momentum conservation of the self-collimated beams in the presence of the spatial nonlocality of the medium response. Since reorientational solitons can act as passive waveguides for other weak optical signals, these results introduce a wealth of possibilities for all-optical signal routing and light-induced photonic interconnects.

Laudyn, U.A., Kwaśny, M., Sala, F.A., Karpierz, M.A., Smyth, N.F., Assanto, G. (2017). Curved optical solitons subject to transverse acceleration in reorientational soft matter. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7(1), 12385 [10.1038/s41598-017-12242-5].

Curved optical solitons subject to transverse acceleration in reorientational soft matter

Assanto, Gaetano
Conceptualization
2017-01-01

Abstract

We demonstrate that optical spatial solitons with non-rectilinear trajectories can be made to propagate in a uniaxial dielectric with a transversely modulated orientation of the optic axis. Exploiting the reorientational nonlinearity of nematic liquid crystals and imposing a linear variation of the background alignment of the molecular director, we observe solitons whose trajectories have either a monotonic or a non-monotonic curvature in the observation plane of propagation, depending on either the synergistic or counteracting roles of wavefront distortion and birefringent walk-off, respectively. The observed effect is well modelled in the weakly nonlinear regime using momentum conservation of the self-collimated beams in the presence of the spatial nonlocality of the medium response. Since reorientational solitons can act as passive waveguides for other weak optical signals, these results introduce a wealth of possibilities for all-optical signal routing and light-induced photonic interconnects.
2017
Laudyn, U.A., Kwaśny, M., Sala, F.A., Karpierz, M.A., Smyth, N.F., Assanto, G. (2017). Curved optical solitons subject to transverse acceleration in reorientational soft matter. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7(1), 12385 [10.1038/s41598-017-12242-5].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11590/327235
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