Cumulative negative nonlinearity in planar nematics driven by nanosecond, 532-nm laser pulses with linear polarization parallel to the liquid crystal director

Summary form only given. For optical power limiting studies, we chose planar-aligned films of the well-known nematic liquid crystals alkyl-cyano-biphenyl 5CB (C/sub 5/H/sub 11/), and its mixture (1:4 by weight) with 7CB (C/sub 7/H/sub 17/). In some experiments, we added to this mixture 7.4 weight % of the two-photon absorptive chromophore bis[di-n-butylamino]stilbene.