Abstract

Spatial ring pattern formation owing to transverse self-phase modulation has been observed in several materials including ruby, GdAlO₃:Cr³⁺ and photorefractive materials.^1–3 Induced transverse effects owing to beam coupling have also been demonstrated in ruby,⁴ whereby rings present on a strong pump beam were transferred to a weak probe beam of different wavelength. The above studies have been performed with the incident beams polarized parallel or perpendicular to the crystal's c-axis, thus avoiding anisotropic effects. Here, we describe experimental results of nonlinear beam propagation in ruby, where novel transverse effects were observed due to self- and induced-action in the anisotropic regime. These effects are believed to arise from the large n₂ associated with the charge transfer band dispersion in the E state of ruby.

© 1993 Optical Society of America