Open AccessSpatiotemporal optical instabilities in nematic solitons
Author(s) -
Aleksandra I. Strinić,
Dejan V. Timotijević,
D. Arsenović,
Milan S. Petrović,
Milivoj R. Belić
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/opex.13.000493
Subject(s) - filamentation , liquid crystal , birefringence , optics , instability , physics , beam (structure) , optical vortex , intensity (physics) , soliton , materials science , laser , mechanics , nonlinear system , quantum mechanics
We investigate numerically the propagation of self-trapped optical beams in nematic liquid crystals. Our analysis includes both spatial and temporal behavior. We display the formation of stable solitons in a narrow threshold region of beam intensities for fixed birefringence, and depict their spatiotemporal instabilities as the input intensity and the birefringence are increased. We demonstrate the breathing and filamentation of solitons above the threshold with increasing input intensity, and discover a convective instability with increasing birefringence. We consider the propagation of complex beam structures in nematic liquid crystals, such as dipoles, beam arrays, and vortices.