Reflective nonlinearity of nonabsorbing cholesteric liquid crystal mirrors driven by pulsed high-repetition-rate laser radiation

Svetlana G. Lukishova; Konstantin S. Lebedev; Ekaterina A. Magulariya; Sergey V. Belyaev; Nicolay V. Malimonenko; Ansgar W. Schmid

doi:10.1117/12.365802

14 October 1999 Reflective nonlinearity of nonabsorbing cholesteric liquid crystal mirrors driven by pulsed high-repetition-rate laser radiation

Svetlana G. Lukishova, Konstantin S. Lebedev, Ekaterina A. Magulariya, Sergey V. Belyaev, Nicolay V. Malimonenko, Ansgar W. Schmid

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3800, Liquid Crystals III; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.365802
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1999, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

A light-induced drop in the chiral reflection coefficient of a nonabsorbing chiral nematic (cholesteric) liquid-crystal mirror is observed experimentally in the region of selective reflection under the action of a high-repetition-rate, high- power laser beam, circularly polarized. The independence of the effect from the average power density (and its dependence only on the peak power density) allow it to be attributed to an increase in the pitch of the cholesteric helix to such a degree that it is completely unwound in the strong field of the light wave, an effect previously observed only in static and low-frequency electric and magnetic fields. The kinetics of this first experimental observation of a chiral helix unwinding by the optical field, is a step changing of the reflectivity of the cholesteric liquid-crystal mirror in the strong field of the light wave over the time under the action of high- repetition-rate, pulsed, laser radiation. On account of the specially chosen irradiation conditions, the changes produced in the pitch of the helix by the field of the light wave can be accumulated over time, so that an athermal mechanism can be invoked to explain the nonlinear reflectivity drop of a cholesteric mirror.

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Svetlana G. Lukishova, Konstantin S. Lebedev, Ekaterina A. Magulariya, Sergey V. Belyaev, Nicolay V. Malimonenko, and Ansgar W. Schmid "Reflective nonlinearity of nonabsorbing cholesteric liquid crystal mirrors driven by pulsed high-repetition-rate laser radiation", Proc. SPIE 3800, Liquid Crystals III, (14 October 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.365802

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