We simulate and elucidate the self-channeling of high-power 10 mu m infrared pulses in atomic gases. The major new result is that the peak intensity can remain remarkably stable over many Rayleigh ranges. This arises from the balance between the self-focusing, diffraction, and defocusing caused by the excitation induced dephasing due to many-body Coulomb effects that enhance the low-intensity plasma densities. This new paradigm removes the Rayleigh range limit for sources in the 8-12 mu m atmospheric transmission window and enables transport of individual multi-TW pulses over multiple kilometer ranges.
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