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A hydrodynamic simulation is used to show that intense laser pulses propagating in underdense plasmas create stable, long-lived, and completely evacuated channels. At low intensities, I=10¹⁷ W/cm², self focusing seriously distorts the temporal envelope of the pulse, but channeling still occurs. At high intensities, I=10¹⁹ W/cm², channeling can proceed over many diffraction lengths with significant distortion restricted to the leading edge of the pulse.
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Feit et al. (1997) studied this question.
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