A miracle happening to a laser beam in a soap film

When a 10 μW – 3 W laser beam (for example, at 632.8 nm) is focused into a usual soap film of thickness between 10 nm and 10 μm from the side or through a defect on the film surface, the self-channeling of the beam propagating in the film is observed. The beam also exhibits self-branching into submicron filaments, the so-called whiskers of length several tens of centimetres. The results of experiments on the dynamics of behaviour of these whiskers in a soap film, their polariton nature, and possible applications are discussed.