Propagation of Laguerre-Gaussian beams in cubic-quintic nonlinear media by variational approach

We analyze the propagation of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams in a cubic-quintic nonlinear medium by using the variational method. For low intensities, the results are in good agreement with the results of a numerical simulation. The characteristics of LG beams in the nonlinear medium are explored and the electric field distribution in the far field after passing through the nonlinear medium is calculated. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.