All-optical and electro-optical switches based on the interaction with disclination lines in chiral nematic liquid crystals

We outline the main features of spatial solitons called nematicons in chiral nematic liquid crystal confined in a wedge cell. We focus on electro-optic readdressing via the interaction with the disclination line to obtain highly steerable beam propagation. Nematicons can be effectively deviated by using the electro-optics response of the medium leading to voltage-control reconfiguration of light-induced guided-wave circuits and signal readdressing.