Theory of nonlocal soliton interaction in nematic liquid crystals

We investigate interactions between spatial nonlocal bright solitons in nematic liquid crystals using an analytical “effective particle” approach as well as direct numerical simulations. The model predicts attraction of out-of-phase solitons and the existence of their stable bound state. This nontrivial property is solely due to the nonlocal nature of the nonlinear response of the liquid crystals. We further predict and verify numerically the critical outwards angle and degree of nonlocality which determine the transition between attraction and repulsion of out-of-phase solitons.