We propose a scheme to generate high-dimensional self-trapped laser beams at a very low light intensity via atomic coherence. The system we consider is a resonant four-level atomic ensemble, working in an active Raman gain regime and at room temperature. We derive a high-dimensional nonlinear envelope equation for a signal field with a specific saturable nonlinearity. We show that because of the quantum interference effect induced by a control field, the imaginary part of the coefficients of the signal-field envelope equation can be much smaller than their real part. We demonstrate that the system supports gain-assisted, stable, high-dimensional spatial optical solitons and long-lifetime vortices, which can be produced with light power at the microwatt level.

• Received 27 July 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.023816