About

About OLC History 

We are happy this year to celebrate the 20th edition of this conference that was held for the first time in Naples (Italy) in 1986. The switch-on of this conference series was given by the discovery of Giant Optical Nonlinearity in liquid crystals reported for the first time by the group of Boris Zel’dovich in 1980 as well as by Iam Choon Khoo and Alexander Zolot’ko. After a few years of work on this subject, together with Enrico Santamato we decided to organize this meeting in Naples that was mainly focused on nonlinear optics of liquid crystals. We were able to collect most of the people (not many at that time) working on this subject and were very proud to have with us Boris Zel’dovich who told us that OLC gave him the opportunity to travel for the first time to a western country, on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Actually, I remember that scientific discussions with him were very stimulating and useful for future investigations. We all miss him a lot.

After the second (Turin, 1988) and third editions (Cetraro, 1990) the conference was shifted to odd years starting from 1991 (Cocoa Beach, USA) and took place every two years. OLC has been always a great forum for presentation and discussion about hot topics related to optical phenomena in liquid crystals and photonic devices made with these materials. Several new phenomena and topics were reported and discussed for the first time at OLC. For instance, we can mention Janossy’s effect leading to low threshold Optical Freedericksz Transition, structure formation and self-organization in bistable optical elements, photorefractive effect in liquid crystals, study of self-induced instabilities and route to chaos in nematics, liquid crystal waveguides, colossal nonlinear response and many other. As a result, this conference was able to create a scientific community in the field giving rise to many fruitful scientific collaborations.

Additionally, besides the outstanding scientific character of the meeting, we must underline that OLC is also a story of real friendships between many of the older participants. This was always favored by the beautiful landscapes, beaches, mountains, impressive architecture, ancient cultures, and last but not least, good food that could be found in all the conference locations. OLC in Szczecin will continue this tradition.

F.Simoni

 

List of the previous conferences:

  • 19th OLC – September 26 – October 1, 2021, Okinawa, Japan
  • 18th OLC – September 8-13, 2019, Quebec, Canada
  • 17th OLC – September 24-29, 2017, Guarujá, State of São Paulo, Brazil
  • 16th OLC – September 13-18, 2015, Sopot, Poland
  • 15th OLC – September 30 – October 5, 2013, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
  • 14th OLC – September 25 – October 1, 2011, Yerevan, Armenia
  • 13th OLC – September 28 – October 2, 2009, Erice (TP), Italy
  • 12th OLC – October 1-5, 2007, Puebla, Mexico
  • 11th OLC – October 2-7, 2005, Sand Key, Florida, USA
  • 10th OLC – September 13-19, 2003, Aussois, France
  • 9th OLC – October 1-6, 2001, Sorrento (Naples), Italy
  • 8th OLC – September 27 – October 1, 1999, Humacao, Puerto Rico
  • 7th OLC – September 8-12, 1997, Heppenheim, Germany
  • 6th OLC – September 25-29, 1995, Venue. Le Touquet, France
  • 5th OLC – October 4-8, 1993, Siofok, Hungary
  • 4th OLC – October 7-11, 1991, Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA
  • 3rd OLC – October 1-5, 1990, Cetraro, Italy
  • 2nd OLC – October 14-20, 1988, Torino, Italy
  • 1st OLC – July 15-18, 1986, Napoli, Italy