UCL Discovery

Abstract

Finding exact analytical soliton profile solutions is only possible for certain types of non-linear media. In most cases one must resort to numerical techniques to find the soliton profile. In this work we present numerical calculations of spatial soliton profiles in nematic liquid crystals. The nonlinearity is governed by the optical-field-induced liquid crystal director reorientation, which is described by a system of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. The soliton profile is found using an iterative scheme whereby the induced waveguide and mode profiles are calculated alternatively until convergence is achieved. In this way it is also possible to find higher order solitons. The results in this work can be used to accurately design all-optical interconnections with soliton beams. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America