A wide angle beam propagation method for the analysis of tilted nematic liquid crystal structures

The optical wave propagation within liquid crystal structures is addressed by the development of rigorous electromagnetic wave propagation methods. The demand of more refined optical wave modelling methods is driven by the fact that the currently used methods applied to liquid crystal devices rely on the stratified medium approximation. As a consequence devices with variations of the director orientation on the scale of the optical wavelength cannot be accurately analysed. An appropriate beam propagation method is developed to circumvent these limitations in the case of liquid crystal devices exhibiting the bend/splay deformation in the director profile. The method is a wide-angle scheme, and is therefore not restricted to the paraxial region; it is tested on tilted liquid crystal structures.