Spatial solitons and modulational instability in the presence of large birefringence: The case of highly nonlocal liquid crystals

With reference to spatially nonlocal nematic liquid crystals, we develop a theory of optical spatial solitons and modulational instability in anisotropic media with arbitrarily large birefringence. Asymmetric spatial profiles and multivalued features are predicted for self-localized light versus walk-off angle. The results hold valid for generic self-focusing birefringent media and apply to large angle steering of individual and multiple self-trapped optical beams.