Reflection and transmission of self-focused channels at nonlinear dielectric interfaces

We show with an extensive numerical study that the global reflection and transmission properties of a finite-width optical self-focused channel incident at an oblique angle to an interface separating two self-focusing nonlinear media can be categorized into three distinct regimes of behavior as the incidence angle is varied through the angle for total internal reflection. The largest regime in parameter space is the nonlinear regime, where a channel undergoes either total internal reflection or transmission, in marked contrast to the well-known linear Snell’s law behavior. The beam asymptotics in this latter region are quantitatively explained by a recent equivalent-particle theory.