Abstract

Dye-laser emission and superfluorescence have been observed in dye-dissolving liquid crystals.¹ Here, we report on the degenerate four-wave mixing in this system. Our experimental setup includes two Q-switched YAG lasers with single-harmonic generation output. The polarization of the laser beams is perpendicular to the plane formed by three incident beams. Our sample is 5CB liquid crystal dissolved with Rhodamine 6G. The cell contains two glasses separated by 50 μm and treated for the liquid-crystal alignment desired. The dye molecules tend to align themselves owing to the alignment of the liquid-crystal molecules. For a sample with 10⁻⁴ mole dye, the ratio of absorption coefficient of dye at wavelength 5320 Å with polarization parallel to or perpendicular to the liquid-crystal director is a_║/a⊥ = 1.7.

© 1984 Optical Society of America