Nonlinear Optical Phenomena in Silicon-Smectic A Liquid Crystal (SALC) Waveguiding Structures

Liquid crystals (LCs) are organic materials characterized by a certain degree of ordering and anisotropy in their fluido-dynamic, elastic and electromagnetic properties. LCs possess strong optical nonlinearity. Due to these unique properties, LCs are promising candidates for the development of novel integrated devices for telecommunications and sensing. Nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) are mostly used and studied. However, smectic A liquid crystals (SALCs) have a higher degree of long range order, lower scattering losses in SALC, and they can be useful in nonlinear optical applications. We theoretically studied the nonlinear optical phenomena in a Silicon-SALC waveguide. We have shown that the strong stimulated light scattering (SLS) caused by SALC nonlinearity can occur in the Silicon-SALC waveguide.