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VOLUME 31 (1980) | ISSUE 5 | PAGE 287
Giant optical nonlinearity in the mesophase of a nematic liquid crystal (NCL)
A self-focusing, giant optical nonlinearity, which is caused by rotation of the NLC director due to the action of the light wave field, is predicted in the oriented mesophase of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC). The self-focusing effect of He-Ne laser radiation, which has a power of —10"2 W and a power density of ~ 50 W/cm2, was detected experimentally in a 60-/^m-thick, plane oriented NLC layer for oblique incidence of an extraordinary wave. The measured value of the effective nonlinearity constant e2 = 0.14 cmVerg, which corresponds to the theoretical predictions, is ~ 109 times greater than the nonlinearity of carbon bisulfide.