Liquid crystals under high-power, nanosecond laser irradiation

Abstract

High-damage threshold liquid crystal optical elements are used for high-power laser applications as mirrors, waveplates and optical power limiters. Several nonlinear optical effects under high-power, nanosecond laser irradiation of liquid crystals will be outlined: (1) athermal helical pitch dilation and unwinding of cholesteric mirrors by the field of a light wave (in free space and in a laser resonator); (2) dependence of nonlinear refraction of liquid crystal on the laser beam diameter in presence of two-photon absorption; (3) cumulative effects in nonlinear absorption and refraction at low repetition rate (5-10 Hz); (4) feedback-free kaleidoscope of patterns in dye-doped liquid crystals (hexagons/stripes).