title: Observation of cancellation and second light-induced Fréedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals.
abstract: We describe the observation of a new phenomenon: the cancellation of molecular reorientation that has been achieved in nematic liquid crystals acted on by two competing (pulsed) light beams. The effect is unstable: Starting from the cancellation condition, we have observed patterns related to the presence of a nonlinear phase shift in both beams when their intensity was increased simultaneously. We characterize the behavior of the induced phase shift as a function of the impinging power.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Italiano Cristalli Liquidi and Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Unità di Ricerca di Cosenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Sarik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nersisyan
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Umeton