Deformations of liquid interfaces by the optical radiation pressure of a
focused laser wave were generally expected to display similar behavior,
whatever the direction of propagation of the incident beam. Recent experiments
showed that the invariance of interface deformations with respect to the
direction of propagation of the incident wave is broken at high laser
intensities. In the case of a beam propagating from the liquid of smaller
refractive index to that of larger one, the interface remains stable, forming a
nipple-like shape, while for the opposite direction of propagation, an
instability occurs, leading to a long needle-like deformation emitting
micro-droplets. While an analytical model successfully predicts the equilibrium
shape of weakly deformed interface, very few work has been accomplished in the
regime of large interface deformations. In this work, we use the Boundary
Integral Element Method (BIEM) to compute the evolution of the shape of a
fluid-fluid interface under the effect of a continuous laser wave, and we
compare our numerical simulations to experimental data in the regime of large
deformations for both upward and downward beam propagation. We confirm the
invariance breakdown observed experimentally and find good agreement between
predicted and experimental interface hump heights below the instability
threshold