title: Dark nematicons.
abstract: We experimentally demonstrate and model dark spatial solitons in azo-doped liquid crystals, in the presence of saturation and nonlocality of the effective nonlinearity due to changes in molecular order. The guiding properties of dark solitons are probed with a weak input of different wavelength.
authors.affiliation: Nonlinear Optics and OptoELectronics Laboratory (NooEL) Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piccardi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alberucci
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tabiryan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Assanto