Ferroelectric materials exhibit spontaneous and stable polarization, which can usually be reoriented by an applied external electric field. The electrically switchable nature of this polarization is at the core of various ferroelectric devices. The motion of the associated domain walls provides the basis for ferroelectric memory, in which the storage of data bits is achieved by driving domain w...

Generally, polarization and phase are considered as two relatively independent parameters of light, and show little interaction when a light propagates in a homogeneous and isotropic medium. Here, we reveal that orbital angular momentum (OAM) of an optical vortex beam can be modulated by specially-tailored locally linear polarization states of light under a tightly-focusing conditon. We perform...

SYNOPSIS. Visual pigments, the molecules in photoreceptors that initiate the process of vision, are inherently dichroic, differentially absorbing light according to its axis of polarization. Many animals have taken advantage of this property to build receptor systems capable of analyzing the polarization of incoming light, as polarized light is abundant in natural scenes (commonly being produce...

Nematic liquid crystals are characterized by a giant optical nonlinearity which has its origin in the molecular reorientational phenomenon. Uniqueness of this nonlinear mechanism causes that response of the medium is dependent on many conditions. Among various of circumstances, both an initial alignment of liquid crystal cell and geometry of the system is very important, but in this paper a sig...

Experiments confirm that a light beam’s polarization rotates when it travels through gas of spinning molecules, phenomenon previously observed only in rotating solids.