A comprehensive model of intense laser light propagation in a fully saturable medium is presented. This model employs the Maxwell-Bloch equations for a two-level atomic system. Light propagating through a medium creates intensity-dependent index of refraction gradients that reduce to a Kerr nonlinearity only for a weak field. When the laser detuning is positive, self-induced index gradients cause the beam to self-focus. Stationary filaments occur when self-focusing exactly balances diffraction. There exists a unique set of two-dimensional fundamental (and higher mode) solutions for which the filament transverse profile (not Gaussian in general) depends on the following quantities: density of saturable absorbers, laser detuning from resonance, laser power, and natural linewidth. (In contrast the Kerr solution does not have a unique filament diameter.) Emphasis will be placed on propagation of Gaussian incident beams; deviations from the stationary solution in either shape or power generally give rise to oscillating spatial patterns, including donutlike profiles, or beam breakup.

• Received 13 April 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.52.3244