Interferometric analysis of reorientational nonlinear phenomena at 10.6 microm in a nematic liquid crystal.
We describe an infrared interferometric technique based on a two-dimensional spatial fringe analysis Fourier method for investigating the characteristic ring diffraction pattern generated by the self-phase-modulation effect induced in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) by an infrared laser beam and for measuring the nonlinear refractive index of the NLCs. The experimental setup employs a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a cw CO2 laser emitting at 10.6 microm and a pyroelectric optoelectronic sensor matrix to detect the modulated ring-pattern intensity distribution formed in the far field by a nematic E7 sample. A Fourier-transform-based analysis of the interference fringe pattern allows comparison of the measurements with the theoretical ring-pattern intensity distribution. We show that accurate determination of the nonlinear refractive index can be obtained by analyzing the two-dimensional phase distribution of the modulated ring pattern.
Allaria
Enrico
E
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy.
Brugioni
Stefano
S
De Nicola
Sergio
S
Ferraro
Pietro
P
Grilli
Simonetta
S
Meucci
Riccardo
R