title: Optical multisoliton generation in nematic liquid crystals.
abstract: The nonlocal nonlinearity stemming from molecular reorientation in nematic liquid crystals supports the formation of multiple solitary waves, following the onset of spatial modulational instability from both wide and focused input beams. We report experimental observations of such phenomena at power levels of hundreds of milliwatts in planar cells with a voltage bias.
authors.affiliation: Nonlinear Optics and OptoElectronics Laboratory, National Institute for the Physics of Matter (INFM), University Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peccianti
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Assanto