Excitation of convective motions and surface hydrodynamic soliton-type waves in liquid crystals by a Gaussian laser beam

The possibility of exciting convective motions with a toroidal symmetry in a disordered liquid-crystal cell with an open surface, which is locally heated by a Gaussian laser beam, is demonstrated experimentally. A perturbation of the free surface of the liquid crystal and a convective hydrodynamic motion are determined by temperature gradients. It is shown that a radial distribution of the director of a nematic liquid crystal appears in the convection region. Under certain experimental conditions, soliton-type hydrodynamic orientation waves are observed at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal. It is found experimentally that the velocity of these waves is determined solely by the liquid-crystal parameters and is independent of the incident laser-radiation power.