Nonlinear optical propagation in dye-doped liquid crystal waveguides

We present an experimental study of light propagation in dye-doped liquid c rystal planar waveguides. A special three-section guiding device has been d esigned and realized. Both TE and TM polarization of the input laser beam a re considered. Homeotropic and planar alignment at the waveguide walls are employed as the liquid crystal film geometry. Above a power threshold, we o bserve nonlinear mode coupling mismatch between the waveguide sections and decreasing output power versus increasing input power. We compare the exper imental observations with the numerical results obtained from a theoretical model of the device and find good agreement. The huge nonlinearity exhibit ed by liquid crystals is further enhanced by the presence of the dye dopant , making the realization of low-power all-optical integrated devices feasib le and attractive.