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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Slow Light Birefringence in Liquid Crystal Light Valves

S. Residori, U. Bortolozzo, Jean‐Pierre Huignard

Published Jan 1, 2010• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

By performing two-beam coupling experiments in a liquid crystal light-valve, we show that when slow-light occurs in anisotropic media a large difference of the group index result for orthogonal polarization states of the input pulse.
DOI
10.1364/qels.2010.jtud7

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Physical Review A•May 18, 2009•10 citations
Liquid crystals are characterized by a strong anisotropy of their physical properties, which is at the origin of their high birefringence. By performing two-wave mixing experiments in a liquid crystal light-valve, we show that the anisotropic nature of the beam coupling occurring in the liquid crystal layer leads to a slow-light birefringence phenomenon, that is, orthogonal polarization states of the input pulse travel at very different group velocities. Such a slow-light birefringence effect comports a large difference in the group index for the ordinary and the extraordinary wave. The resulting high contrast of the group index can be exploited for realizing a common-path polarization interferometer working at enhanced sensitivity, where very small phase variations can be efficiently detected.
By performing two-beam coupling experiments in a liquid crystal light-valve, a large slow-light effect is obtained, with group velocity as slow as a few tenths of mm/s. According to the anisotropic character of the wave-mixing process in liquid crystals, the interactions are accompanied by different behaviors on the different polarization states, with high response to phase changes on the extraordinary wave and the ordinary wave traveling unaffected. Different types of enhanced sensitivity phase detection systems are realized based on the slow-light features of wave-mixing in light-valves, such as common-path polarization interferometers exploiting different polarization states, adaptive holography and nonlinear Sagnac detection.
We present the nonlinear optical properties of liquid crystal light-valves and wave-mixing experiments from which slow-light effects are obtained. Group velocities as low as fractions of mm/s are achieved, the corresponding group index becoming very large. We show how this property that can be exploited to realize interferometric systems, for instance, an enhanced sensitivity Mach-Zehnder interferometer containing the light-valve as a slowlight medium is shown. Then, we present a common-path polarization interferometer based on the anisotropic character of the slow-light process occurring in the light-valve. Finally, we present a nonlinear optical cavity where a Doppler shift is introduced by the controlled displacement of one of the mirrors. Self-pulsing is obtained in the cavity due to the strongly dispersive response of the light-valve.
By performing two-wave mixing experiments in a liquid-crystal light valve, optical pulses are slowed down to group velocities as slow as a few tenths of mm/s, corresponding to a very large group index. We present experiments and model of the slow-light process occurring in the liquid-crystal light valve, showing that this is characterized by multiple-beam diffraction in the Raman-Nath regime. Depending on the initial frequency detuning between pump and signal, the different output order beams are distinguished by different group delays. The group delay can be tuned by changing the main parameters of the experiment: the detuning between the pump and the input wave packet, the strength of the nonlinearity, and the intensity of the pump beam.