HIGH-INTENSITY NANOSECOND PHOTOREFRACTIVE SPATIAL SOLITONS

We report the observation of high-intensity solitons in a bulk stronti um barium niobate crystal. The solitons are observed by use of 8-ns op tical pulses with optical intensities greater than 100 MW/cm(2). Each soliton forms and attains its minimum width after roughly ten pulses a nd reaches e(-1) of the steady-state width after the first pulse. We f ind good agreement between experimental observations and theoretical p redictions for the soliton existence curve. (C) 1998 Optical Society o f America.