Waveguide propagation of laser beams in media with saturating non-linearity

Abstract

The waveguide propagation of Gaussian laser beams in dielectric media with saturating non-linearity has been investigated analytically, using two profiles for the dependence of the dielectric constant on intensity. An expression for the radius of the uniform wave-guide, corresponding to a given power of the beam, has been obtained and the existence of a minimum radius, corresponding to an optimum power, has been predicted. For high power laser beams, oscillatory waveguides have been obtained; for very high powers the oscillations of the radius of the waveguide are small.