A THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF TM MODE PROPAGATION IN A NONLINEAR HYBRID ALIGNED LIQUID-CRYSTAL WAVE-GUIDE

A dielectric slab waveguide with a hybrid aligned liquid crystal stage is investigated as a tool for understanding the nonlinear behaviour o f optical liquid crystal guiding devices. A theoretical model of the l iquid crystal interaction with pure TM guided modes, in the specified geometry, is given, and the coupling coefficients among the different stages of the waveguide are calculated by means of the local normal mo des expansion theory. We found good agreement between the experimental data and the numerical simulations.