Experimental Investigation of Light Induced Chaotic Dynamics in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Abstract We report the characterization of the chaotic behavior in the phenomenon of molecular reorientation induced in nematic liquid crystals by a laser beam in a particular geometry. The conventional approach to the reconstruction of dynamic properties of the measured chaotic signal is used to find the fractal dimension of the attractor and the largest Lyapunov exponent of the system. The intermittency observed in the chaotic regime gives useful informations to develop a satisfactory theoretical framework for the interaction between the light beam and the nonlinear medium.