SELF-FOCUSING IN UNIAXIAL GYROTROPIC MEDIA - QUALITATIVE AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

We consider the self-focusing in uniaxial gyrotropic media at axially symmetric geometry, i.e., when the wave beam and the gyration vector g are parallel to the principal axis. Dissipation is neglected and the nonlinearity is of the Kerr type. It is shown that when g is directed along the wave normal, i.e., g.n > 0, there is a detrapping of the nonlinearly self-trapped wave beam. The detrapping increases with the narrowing of the beam and this results in the final defocusing of the wave. If g is antiparallel to the wave normal, (g.n) < 0, there is no detrapping and finally a homogeneous wave beam is formed. The results obtained are beyond the theory based on the nonlinear Schrodinger equation.