Abstract

In a recent letter^[1] we have reported the observation of nonlinear light diffraction in dye doped polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC), which shows a peculiar threshold behavior due to the particular properties of these materials. They are composed by nematic liquid crystal droplets embedded in a polymeric matrix, for this reason the optical properties are dominated by light scattering caused by the index mismatch between the polymer and the droplets. Index matching and consequent switching to transmission can be obtained either by reorientating the droplets by a low frequency electric field or by heating them up to the isotropic state.

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