Optically induced phase shift in nematic liquid crystals with hybrid alignment

Abstract

We report an accurate set of measurements of optically induced phase shift in nematic liquid crystals with hybrid alignment. Two different techniques were used to study the low intensity and the saturation behavior. We present a quantitative check of our theory; comparing the nonlinear response of samples with different thicknesses; a good agreement between theory and experimental data is shown for low light intensity, and the influence of thermal indexing in the saturation region is demonstrated.