Electro-optic phenomena in nematic liquid crystals studied experimentally and by Monte-Carlo simulations

In this article we compare results of experiments on light self-diffraction in nematic liquid crystal panels with corresponding results of the Monte-C arlo simulations of a two-dimensional nematic liquid crystal model in the p resence of a spatially modulated electric field. In the simulations molecul ar interactions were described by the Lebwohl-Lasher Hamiltonian. The resul ts obtained on the diffraction efficiency and spatial and temporal behavior of refractive index changes in nematic liquid crystal are satisfactorily r eproduced by Monte-Carlo simulations. We discuss the complementarity of bot h methods in studying and designing systems for optical information process ing using liquid crystals. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.