Dynamics of self-trapped singular beams in an underdense plasma

Dynamics of an intense short laser pulse with a phase singularity, propagating in an underdense cold plasma, is investigated. Such a pulse can propagate as a vortex soliton in a self-created channel. It is shown that vortices with the topological charge m = 1,2 (and a corresponding angular momentum) are unstable against symmetry-breaking perturbations; the breakup of the original vortex leads to the formation of stable spatial solitons that steadily fly away tangentially from the initial ring of vortex distribution. © 2002 The American Physical Society.