Optical isolation via direction-dependent soliton routing in birefringent soft matter

Assanto, Gaetano; Calisto, Enrique; Smyth, Noel F.

doi:10.1364/ol.459564

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…NFS also extended his work towards the control of solitons via external voltages or potentials [41], other beams [42] and boundaries [43], aiming at reliable design tools for optical devices based on reorientational nematic liquid crystals. One of his last publications dealt with optical isolation using nematicon waveguides in samples with graded orientation of the molecular director [44].…”

Section: Nonlinear Self-guided Beams In Soft Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic Dispersive Shock Waves from Nonlocal to Local

et al. 2021

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The structure of optical dispersive shock waves in nematic liquid crystals is investigated as the power of the optical beam is varied, with six regimes identified, which complements previous work pertinent to low power beams only. It is found that the dispersive shock wave structure depends critically on the input beam power. In addition, it is known that nematic dispersive shock waves are resonant and the structure of this resonance is also critically dependent on the beam power. Whitham modulation theory is used to find solutions for the six regimes with the existence intervals for each identified. These dispersive shock wave solutions are compared with full numerical solutions of the nematic equations, and excellent agreement is found.

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Section: Nonlinear Self-guided Beams In Soft Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic Dispersive Shock Waves from Nonlocal to Local

et al. 2021

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“…Stemming from the conspicuous interest afforded in photonics by isolators and nonreciprocal responses at optical frequencies [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], in this Paper we discuss the propagation of nematicons and their induced waveguides in orientation-modulated NLC planar cells, demonstrating that a non-specular in-out molecular distribution [31] in the nonlinear regime supports non-symmetric soliton propagation and transmission when identical light-beams are launched from opposite ends of the sample [32][33]. The resulting nonlinear optical behaviour is investigated by numerical experiments and interpreted in terms of nonreciprocity and diode-like isolation [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonreciprocal nematicon propagation

Calisto,

Assanto

2024

Liquid Crystals Optics and Photonic Devices

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Optical solitary wave beams in nematic liquid crystals -Nematicons- when propagating in orientation-modulated planar cells with a non-symmetric layout evolve along different paths when launched from opposite sides, thereby exhibiting nonreciprocal behavior with non-overlapping trajectories. We model such solitary-waveguides in cells with non-homogeneously oriented molecular director, with anchoring linearly changing along the sample length or across its width. We report on numerical experiments about generation and propagation of nematicons injected from the opposite two ends of the cell and investigate the trajectories of forward and backward propagating self-confined beams. The obtained non-specular transmission suggests a diode-like response as a backward propagating beam does not reach the forward propagating input port.

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“…At variance with changes in wavelength, some schemes entail isolation through changes in the transmitted polarization [3] or output/input ports [2,15]. The phenomenon we address in this work can be framed in the latter category, as we investigate self-induced waveguides which, by launching intense beams from the opposite ends of a specific sample, establish signal pipelines with distinguishable paths, as alluded in [29]. Hence, the all-optical waveguide connecting the FP input to its output port after propagation does not overlap with the self-waveguide formed between the FP and the BP outputs, as illustrated in Figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonreciprocal Propagation of Nematicons

Calisto,

Assanto

2023

Photonics

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We model two-port nonlinear optical isolators based on solitary waveguides in planar cells with non-homogeneously oriented liquid crystals in the nematic phase. In a planar layout with molecular anchoring linearly changing along the sample length or across its width, we conduct numerical experiments on the excitation and propagation of reorientational solitons—“nematicons”—launched in opposite directions from the two ends of the cell. Specifically, in the Kerr-like diffractionless regime corresponding to graded-index waveguides for copolarized weak signals, we investigate the non-overlapping trajectories of forward and backward propagating wavepackets. The resulting non-specular transmission entails optical isolation and diode-like behavior as light propagating backwards does not reach the forward input. The response dependencies on input power, range of angular modulation, and one-photon losses are analyzed with reference to parameters of realistic soft matter.

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Optical isolation via direction-dependent soliton routing in birefringent soft matter

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

Nematic Dispersive Shock Waves from Nonlocal to Local

Nematic Dispersive Shock Waves from Nonlocal to Local

Nonreciprocal nematicon propagation

Nonreciprocal Propagation of Nematicons

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