The generation and nonlinear dynamics of multidimensional optical dissipative solitonic pulses are examined. The variational method is extended to complex dissipative systems, in order to obtain steady state solutions of the (D + 1)-dimensional complex cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation (D = 1, 2, 3). A stability criterion is established fixing a domain of dissipative parameters for stable steady state solutions. Following numerical simulations, evolution of any input pulse from this domain leads to stable dissipative solitons.

The excitation of near-infrared (2+1)D solitons in liquid carbon disulfide is demonstrated due to the simultaneous contribution of the third- and fifth-order susceptibilities. Solitons propagating free from diffraction for more than 10 Rayleigh lengths although damped, were observed to support the proposed soliton behavior. Numerical calculations using a nonlinear Schrödinger-type equation were also performed.