Nematic dispersive shock waves from nonlocal to local

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the structure of optical dispersive shock waves in nematic liquid crystals varies with beam power, identifying six regimes and using Whitham modulation theory to analyze their properties.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of nematic dispersive shock waves across different power regimes, extending previous low-power studies with new theoretical and numerical insights.

Findings

Six distinct regimes of shock wave structure identified.

Excellent agreement between Whitham theory and numerical simulations.

Shock wave structure critically depends on input beam power.

Abstract

The structure of optical dispersive shock waves in nematic liquid crystals is investigated as the power of the optical beam is varied, with six regimes identified, which complements previous work pertinent to low power beams only. It is found that the dispersive shock wave structure depends critically on the input beam power. In addition, it is known that nematic dispersive shock waves are resonant and the structure of this resonant is also critically dependent on the beam power. Whitham modulation theory is used to find solutions for the six regimes with the existence intervals for each identified. These dispersive shock wave solutions are compared with full numerical solutions of the nematic equations and excellent agreement is found.