Weakly nonparaxial "laser bullets"

The perturbation theory for finding nonparaxial corrections to the structur e of "laser bullets," which represent three-dimensional optical solitons in a medium with nonlinear gain and absorption, is developed. A simple form o f polarization and angular field structures is obtained. The main nonparaxi al effects are the manifestation of the longitudinal component of the elect ric field and the asymmetry of intensity distribution. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nakua /Interperiodica".