Distortionless Propagation of Ordinary Wave through Inhomogeneous Nematic (Theory and Experiment)

Abstract

We predicted and confirmed experimentally that an ordinary wave may propagate through a very thick (∼5 mm) nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cell almost without distortions. The physical idea is that: 1) the polarizations of the e-and o-wave follow adiabatically the local orientation of optical axis and 2) phase velocity of o-wave does not depend on orientation. Behavior of polarization around disclination line is studied.