Observation of self-focusing in optical fibers with picosecond pulses

Self-focusing was observed at Raman frequencies, using picosecond pulses propagating in a large-core optical fiber of 100-microm diameter. For intense input pulses, a continuum of Stokes frequencies was generated in a small ring-waveguide structure. The ring diameter of 11 microm was about 10 times smaller than the beam diameter at low intensities. The ring structure was attributed to an induced-gradient-index profile arising from the nonlinear index of refraction.