Visible-infrared Optical Wave Mixings and Nonlinear Processes with Liquid Crystals

The objective of this research program is to further explore and exploit the extraordinarily large optical nonlinearities of liquid crystals for novel nonlinear optical processes and applications. Recent studies by the PI have confirmed the possibilities of utilizing the orientational and thermal nonlinearities in optical wave front conjugation with gains, beam amplifications and other real-time adaptive processes such as ring and self-oscillations and laser intensity switching, for visible as well as infrared lasers. Phase locking of lasers, speckle noise-free phase conjugation, image correlations and convolutions have also shown to be feasible. The proposed studies will include the development of detailed theories for some new fundamental aspects of these wave mixing results (e.g., beam and image amplification in a Kerr medium, multi-beam interactions with diffusive-type nonlinearities, self-oscillations in phase conjugations) and parallel detailed experimental measurements and documentations of these processes. It is anticipated that several important theories, concepts, and useful visible-far infrared nonlinear optical imaging, optical processing and adaptive optic devices will emerge from these studies.