Short intense wave packets in smoothly inhomogeneous media

The propagation of short (of the order of a few wavelengths) intense wave p ackets in smoothly inhomogenenous media with an arbitrary profile of the po tential is considered within the framework of the third-order nonlinear Sch rodinger equation with inhomogeneous potential. An equation for trajectorie s of the center of mass of a packet is studied under the Hirota conditions. Parabolic and periodic profiles of inhomogeneity are considered in detail, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.