Solitonlike beam propagation along light-induced singularity of space charge in fast photorefractive media -: art. no. 033902

We investigate light beam propagation in a fast photorefractive medium placed in an alternating electric ac field to enhance the nonlinear response. It is shown that the joint action of the optical and material nonlinearities leads to formation of a narrow singularity of the light-induced space charge at the intensity maximum and to self-trapping of the light energy near the corresponding discontinuity of the index profile. Owing to the strong saturation of the material nonlinearity, the trapped beam propagates over long distances with only a weak loss of its power.