Filamentation of an annular laser beam with a vortex phase dislocation in fused silica

The filamentation of a femtosecond laser pulse in fused silica has been numerically investigated for the case of an annular beam with a phase singularity at a wavelength of 800 nm. The spatiotemporal propagation dynamics of the pulse and the transformation of its frequency-angular spectra are analysed. It is shown that a tubular structure with a radius of 3 – 4 mm, peak intensity of about 2.4 × 10¹³ W cm^-2, and maximum plasma density on the order of 10²⁰ cm^-3 is formed in the nonlinear focus; the length of this structure significantly exceeds the waist length in the linear case. The results of the analysis are compared with the data obtained for an annular beam free of phase dislocations and for a Gaussian beam.