  The propagation of electromagnetic waves is investigated in the context of
the isotropic and nonlinear dielectric media at rest in the eikonal limit of
the geometrical optics. Taking into account the functional dependence
$\varepsilon=\varepsilon(E,B)$ and $\mu=\mu(E,B)$ for the dielectric
coefficients, a set of phenomena related to the birefringence of the
electromagnetic waves induced by external fields are derived and discussed. Our
results contemplate the known cases already reported in the literature: Kerr,
Cotton-Mouton, Jones and magnetoelectric effects. Moreover, new effects are
presented here as well as the perspectives of its experimental confirmations.
