Abstract. The large nonlinearities of the solutions of a new type of rare-earth complexes RE(TTA)4:HP, synthesized by ourselves, are experimentally demonstrated. The critical powers for the self-trapping of a laser beam in the solutions were measured. The dependence of the self-trapping critical powers on the absorptivity of the solutions and the type of solute complexes was found. The analysis for the experimental results shows that the effects of self-focusing and self-trapping of light in the solutions are not due to the change of molecular local density but the thermo-optical nonlinearities of the dissolved molecules themselves.
