Abstract

Suspensions of anisotropic particles have demonstrated potential for nonlinear applications in the millimeter¹ and optical² wavelength regimes. In the millimeter regime, strong nonlinear effects may be obtained at very low power levels (1-10 W/ cm²) using stabilized suspensions of large ellipsoidal particles, which are still much smaller than the wavelength of light.¹ At visible wavelengths, and correspondingly smaller particles, the strength of the nonlinear interaction is reduced while the response time of the medium is greatly improved.² In particular, the reorientation times required to form a grating are much shorter than those required for translation motion over distances comparable to the grating spacing.

© 1989 Optical Society of America