On diffraction and dispersion effect on three wave interaction

Abstract The effect of diffraction and dispersion on three wave coupling is investigated. The instability leading to space modulation of packets is obtained. This instability and its nonlinear stage is similar to modulational instability of quasimonochromatic waves. The localized structures (solitons and waveguide) can be a result of the instability. We demonstrate that one-dimensional and two-dimensional such structures are unstable. The existence of stable three-dimensional solitons is shown.