Spatial solitons in a self-focusing semiconductor gain medium

Abstract
A beam propagating in a planar waveguide exhibits the characteristics of both a fundamental soliton (little change in waist of a 5-μm beam; diffraction is compensated by self-focusing nonlinear refraction) and a second-order soliton (10-μm beam focuses to 3 μm with side peaks). These one-dimensional spatial solitons are quite stable; bifurcations of transverse solitary waves are not seen, in sharp contrast with the case for two transverse dimensions. Plasma-theory planar-wave beam-propagation computations agree well with the data and resemble Kerr-medium solitons quite closely.