Evolution of tubular singular pulsed beams in a nonlinear dielectric medium upon ionisation

The dynamics of a high-power femtosecond tubular pulsed beam in a dielectric medium is numerically analysed upon optically induced ionisation. It is found that the balance between nonlinearities of opposite sign and different magnitude in the case of multiphoton ionisation favours the establishment of a quasi-soliton regime of radiation propagation over a distance exceeding several diffraction lengths. The use of these beams enables attaining high-density light fields and generate high-density plasmas.