Abstract

Based on the use of the method of effective beam parameters, we determine the existence conditions for exact aberrational solutions for the effective width, phase front curvature radius and limiting divergence of the beam. The views of these solutions are also obtained. A similarity effect had been revealed in the study of the processes under conditions of strong nonlinear distortions due to thermal blooming of collimated beams of different classes and under the action of different mechanisms of nonlinear interactions. Regimes of limiting beam divergence formation in the initially homogeneous and inhomogeneous nonlinearly refractive media are investigated. In the case of weak nonlinear distortions expressions are derived that relate the parameters of inhomogeneous propagation path to the initial parameters of the laser beam.

© 1992 Optical Society of America