Mechanism and dynamics of nolinear optical switching in a dielectric prism cladded liquid crystal film

I. C. Khoo, Ping Zhou, R. R. Michael, R. G. Lindquist, R. Mansfield, P. G. LoPresti

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The electrodynamics of a nonlinear optical film sandwiched between two dielectrics has been analyzed for two possible switching modes. One corresponds to the case where the incident laser is initially internally reflected (total internal reflection, TIR) and the film has a positive nonlinearity. The second is for the case where the laser is initially transmitted, but the optical film has a negative nonlinearity. Two factors that have hitherto been largely neglected have been taken into account. One factor is the intense (near unity) reflection from the two interfaces enclosing the optical thin film, which, coupled to the nonlinearity of the film, gives rise to nonlinear Fabry-Perot action. The second factor is the time the evanescent field takes (in the TIR case) to create the required refractive index change in the film for transmission to occur. Several of the analytic results have been experimentally verified using nematic liquid crystal film as the nonlinear medium.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCONFERENCE ON LASERS AND ELECTRO-0PTICS
Editors Anon
PublisherPubl by IEEE
Pages58-59
Number of pages2
ISBN (Print)1557520860
StatePublished - 1989
EventSummaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics - Baltimore, MD, USA
Duration: Apr 24 1989Apr 28 1989

Publication series

NameCONFERENCE ON LASERS AND ELECTRO-0PTICS

Other

OtherSummaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
CityBaltimore, MD, USA
Period4/24/894/28/89

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Engineering

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