Laser/material interactions in liquid crystals and devices for applications in high-power laser systems

The interaction of liquid crystals (LC’s) with polarized and unpolarized laser light has been studied widely and spawned numerous applications in optics and photonics across a wide region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Their remarkable resistance to damage from high-energy laser beams has been linked in a general sense to molecular structure elements that influence both the degree of pi-electron delocalization and its polarizability. This presentation will overview the current state of understanding of mechanisms leading to laser damage in LC’s and describe ongoing computational and experimental efforts to gain a better understanding of the complex chemistry underpinning this behavior.