Light-stimulated growth of isotropic domains in nematic liquid crystal

► Growth dynamics of photoinduced isotropic domains in azobenzene derivate is studied. ► Theoretical model assuming light stimulation as main reason of the growth is proposed. ► A population of the domains is investigated by diffraction efficiency dynamics. ► Influence of parameters coming from observations is studied by series of simulations. ► Experimental results can be precisely fitted using proposed model.