Cavity light bullets in a prototype nonlinear optical resonator

It is well known that nonlinear optical systems can emit trains of pulses in the direction of light propagation. More recently, localization of light in the transverse plane orthogonal to that direction has been demonstrated. The combination of these two phenomena can give rise to propagating localized structures. Examples of such self-confined structures are those found in cavity second harmonic generation and the cavity light bullets predicted for a two-level passive resonator beyond the uniform field limit. Confinement can occur in two dimensions (one longitudinal and one transverse) or three dimensions (one longitudinal and two transverse). In this work, the Lugiato-Lefever model for a Kerr cavity is generalized to account for intra-cavity propagation effects.