Stimulated scattering at mW power in thin nematic film for application in the visible-near IR spectral regime

Nematic liquid crystals (NLC) are quite transparent and they possess large birefringence throughout the visible-infrared regime. Because of the easy susceptibility of the crystalline axis to reorientation by an optical field, it is relatively easy to induce large refractive index changes in NLC using low power lasers. In this paper, we report stimulated scattering and bulk grating formation in aligned nematic film with unprecedented low threshold, and illustrate how the process could easily be realized throughout the visible to near infrared regime