Nonlocal spatial soliton interactions in nematic liquid crystals

The interaction between spatial optical solitons in undoped nematic liquid crystals is governed by reorientational nonlinearity with a significant nonlocality. We demonstrate several cases of interactions, including crossing, interlacing, and merging of spatial solitons in voltage-biased liquid-crystal cells. A scalar model accounts for the main features that were experimentally observed. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.