Filamentation and Undulation of Self-Focused Laser Beams in Liquid Crystals

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Abstract
We describe an experimental and theoretical study of a low-power, continuous-wave laser beam interacting with a nematic liquid crystal. Experimental observations show strong self-focusing, the onset of beam undulation and filamentation. A coupled-field model is presented and reduced through a separation of scales perturbation argument. This analysis shows that the light-nematic interaction is very different from conventional self-focusing in Kerr (nonlinear Schrödinger) media, and it provides a new optical setting for the study of the physics of complex nonlinear patterns.

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