Dispersive shock waves in nematic liquid crystals

The propagation of coherent light with an initial step intensity profile in a nematic liquid crystal is studied using modulation theory. The propagation of light in a nematic liquid crystal is governed by a coupled system consisting of a nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the light beam and an elliptic equation for the medium response. In general, the intensity step breaks up into a dispersive shock wave, or undular bore, and an expansion fan. In the experimental parameter regime for which the nematic response is highly nonlocal, this nematic bore is found to differ substantially from the standard defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation structure due to the effect of the nonlocality of the nematic medium. It is found that the undular bore is of Korteweg-de Vries equation-type, consisting of bright waves, rather than of nonlinear Schrödinger equation-type, consisting of dark waves. In addition, ahead of this Korteweg-de Vries bore there can be a uniform wavetrain with a short front which brings the solution down to the initial level ahead. It is found that this uniform wavetrain does not exist if the initial jump is below a critical value. Analytical solutions for the various parts of the nematic bore are found, with emphasis on the role of the nonlocality of the nematic medium in shaping this structure. Excellent agreement between full numerical solutions of the governing nematicon equations and these analytical solutions is found.