Interaction phenomena in second-order nonlinear materials

Summary form only given. During the past three years, interest has grown rapidly in the theoretical and experimental study of solitary waves in materials with second-order nonlinearities, especially after they were experimentally observed in geometries with one or two transverse dimensions. A stable solitary wave consists of both a strongly coupled fundamental and harmonic beam. When two such solitary waves interact, it has been shown that the behavior of the output solitary waves is strongly influenced by the relative phase between the two input solitary waves and can generate, in the same material, phenomena similar to those predicted for self-focusing.