The dependence of orientational optical nonlinearity in dye-doped liquid-crystal films on the polarization direction of the recording beams

We study, both experimentally and theoretically, the dependence of the absorbance and the two-beam coupling diffraction efficiency of dye-doped liquid-crystal films on the angle between the director vector of the liquid-crystal molecules and the polarization direction of the recording beams, which is shifted continuously from parallel to antiparallel corresponding to the director vector of the liquid-crystal molecules. The sample used in our experiment is the nematic liquid-crystal 5CB-doped with Disperse Red 1 (DR1). Also, there is no electronic field applied to it. The diffraction efficiency of the probe beam increases with the increase of the recording light absorption. Coupled-wave equations are developed to describe the laser-induced refractive index change, grating formation, and coherent wave-mixing effect. The analytical solutions of the recorded holographic grating and the diffraction efficiency of the probe beam are obtained for the case of taking losses into account. The results show that the diffraction efficiency can be improved by choosing suitable material parameters and recording parameters.