Propagation of Gaussian beams in a nonlinear medium

摘要

We investigate the propagation of cw (continuous wave) circularly symmetric Gaussian beams in a nonlinear saturable medium using a modified variational approach. We find the equations that describe the characteristics of the beam, solving them analytically in various regimes. We also determine the conditions under which these solutions may be stable in two transverse dimensions. Finally, we solve these equations numerically in the case of loss, comparing them with the lossless analytical solutions in the limit of small losses. [References: 16]