Signal processing by opto-optical interactions between self-localized and free propagating beams in liquid crystals

The reorientational nonlinearity of nematic liquid crystals enables a self-localized spatial soliton and its waveguide to be deflected or destroyed by a control beam propagating across the cell. We demonstrate a simple all-optical readdressing scheme by exploiting the lens-like perturbation induced by an external beam on both a nematicon and a copolarized guided signal of different wavelength. Angular steering as large as $2.2\mathrm{deg}$ was obtained for control powers as low as $32\mathrm{mW}$ in the near infrared.