title: Soliton bending and routing induced by interaction with curved surfaces in nematic liquid crystals.
abstract: We study experimentally the interaction of spatial optical solitons with curved dielectric surfaces in unbiased nematic liquid crystals. We demonstrate that this interaction depends on the curvature of the surface and the walk-off, and it can be employed for efficient routing and control of the soliton trajectories. We also observe a large-angle total internal reflection of the soliton beam from an interface between liquid crystal and air.
authors.affiliation: Nonlinear Physics Center, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. yvi124@rsphysse.anu.edu.au
authors.forename: Yana V
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Izdebskaya
authors.forename: Vladlen G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Shvedov
authors.forename: Anton S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Desyatnikov
authors.forename: Wieslaw
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Krolikowski
authors.forename: Yuri S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kivshar