Light-Induced Waveguides in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Spatial optical solitary waves in media with nonlinear refractive index are self-localized beams as well as waveguides induced by light. We review their guiding features in reorientational birefringent soft matter, namely nematic liquid crystals, for which a highly “nonlocal” response enhances the confinement, stabilization, and robustness of the generated optical solitary waves, termed “nematicons.” The waveguiding properties of the spatial solitons in nematic liquid crystals are illustrated through the confinement of low-power signals and other solitary waves, as well as optical vortices.