Orientational optical nonlinearities in polymer-stabilized dye-doped liquid crystals

Dye-doped liquid crystals have drawn much attention for their potential in nonlinear optical applications. To invoke nonlinear optical effects, high light intensities are typically required. This review briefly introduces our group’s efforts on developing highly nonlinear, dye-doped LC systems. By (i) using an effective oligothiophene dye, (ii) introducing polymer stabilization of the LC host and (iii) using hybrid molecular alignment, we have achieved self-focusing, a common third-order nonlinear process, even using a low-power, handheld laser-pointer.