Abstract

Anisotropic artificial Kerr media (AAKM) are colloidal suspensions of optically anisotropic particles a few hundred nanometers in size. The nonlinear index of AAKM has its origin in the particles’ translational and rotational degrees of freedom. In a nonuniform, polarized electric field the particles translate by means of electrostriction to regions of greatest field strength, and they experience a torque by the field that tends to align them along the field’s polarization direction. The present work is concerned only with the particles’ rotational degree of freedom.

© 1993 Optical Society of America