Growth of Gaussian instabilities in Gaussian laser beams

Abstract

We present a theory for the growth of a Gaussian perturbation superimposed on a Gaussian profile laser beam. This theory gives an exponential growth of the perturbation for small distances z traveled inside the nonlinear medium. For larger values of z, the growth is not exponential. The growth parameter α is defined and an analytical expression for this parameter is obtained. Our theory gives a smooth matching between the exponential growth of perturbations in a linearized instability theory and the sharp self-focusing thresholds expected for smooth Gaussian profile laser beams propagating in nonlinear media.