Light-induced freedericksz transition and optical multistability in nematic liquid crystals

We revisit the problem of light transmission through a slab of homeotropically oriented nematic liquid crystal and solve self-consistently a system of coupled nonlinear equations describing orientation of the nematic director in the slab and the Maxwell equation for the electric field. We demonstrate that optical transmission of the slab as a function of input power shows a multistable hysteresis-like behaviour. We suggest that this multistability can be useful for creating tunable all-optical switching devices based on the liquid-crystal infiltration of photonic crystals.