This invention encompasses generating electromagnetic solitary waves in two-transverse spatial dimensions. These wave beams propagate without diffraction and are equivalent to the normal modes of propagation of a nonlinear system governed by second order optical nonlinearities. The wave beams can be generated using optical techniques and will impact a wide variety of geometries and operating conditions whenever second order nonlinear optical processes are implemented for harmonic and parametric optical conversion. A preferred embodiment covers the generation of solitary waves from nonlinear materials such as KTiOPO.sub.4 (KTP) crystals. Other types of nonlinear optical device crystals can also be used such as KH.sub.2 PO.sub.4 (KDP), (NH.sub.2).sub.2 CO(Urea), LiNbO.sub.3, KNbO.sub.3, and the borate crystals BaB.sub.2 O.sub.4 (BBO) and LiB.sub.3 O.sub.7 (LBO)
