| abstract |
This invention encompasses generating electromagnetic solitary waves in two-transverse spatial dimensions. These wave beams propagate without diffraction and are equivalent to the normal modes of propagation of a nonlinear system governed by second order optical nonlinearities. The wave beams can be generated using optical techniques and will impact a wide variety of geometries and operating conditions whenever second order nonlinear optical processes are implemented for harmonic and parametric optical conversion. A preferred embodiment covers the generation of solitary waves from nonlinear materials such as KTiOPO 4 (KTP) crystals. Other types of nonlinear optical device crystals can also be used such as KH 2 PO 4 (KDP), (NH 2 ) 2 CO(Urea), LiNbO 3 , KNbO 3 , and the borate crystals BaB 2 O 4 (BBO) and LiB 3 O 7 (LBO). |