A method of laser processing a target, comprising the steps of: providing a beam having bursts of ultra-short laser pulses, the target being made of a material that is transparent to the laser beam, each burst having between 2 and 50 laser pulses, each laser pulse having a pulse width of less than 10 nanoseconds; passing the laser beam through a focusing lens; and being characterized by the following steps: focusing the laser beam using the focusing lens, the laser beam focused in a distributed manner along a longitudinal beam axis, the distributed focus having a principal focus and a plurality of secondary foci (24, 50) that are linear aligned and that are spatially extended along the longitudinal axis to allow the continual refocusing of the incident beam as it travels through the target, wherein the principal focus having a strongest intensity and the secondary foci (24, 50) having a lesser intensity than the principal focus, positioning the distributed focus with respect to the target, so that the principal focus is located outside the target and not within the target and the secondary foci (24, 50) are located within the target delivering the focused laser beam to the target, the focused laser beam having sufficient fluence to initiate Kerr-effect self-focusing and propagation of the laser beam, thereby generating a laser filament that propagates along the longitudinal beam axis, the secondary foci (24, 50) maintaining the laser filament within the target; and adjusting the pulse energy and distributed focusing to guide and maintain the laser filament between a desired point of initiation and a desired point of termination in the target, the laser filament creating a void coincident with the laser filament by annularly compressing the transparent material about the longitudinal beam axis. providing a beam having bursts of ultra-short laser pulses, the target being made of a material that is transparent to the laser beam, each burst having between 2 and 50 laser pulses, each laser pulse having a pulse width of less than 10 nanoseconds; passing the laser beam through a focusing lens; and being characterized by the following steps: focusing the laser beam using the focusing lens, the laser beam focused in a distributed manner along a longitudinal beam axis, the distributed focus having a principal focus and a plurality of secondary foci (24, 50) that are linear aligned and that are spatially extended along the longitudinal axis to allow the continual refocusing of the incident beam as it travels through the target, wherein the principal focus having a strongest intensity and the secondary foci (24, 50) having a lesser intensity than the principal focus, positioning the distributed focus with respect to the target, so that the principal focus is located outside the target and not within the target and the secondary foci (24, 50) are located within the target delivering the focused laser beam to the target, the focused laser beam having sufficient fluence to initiate Kerr-effect self-focusing and propagation of the laser beam, thereby generating a laser filament that propagates along the longitudinal beam axis, the secondary foci (24, 50) maintaining the laser filament within the target; and adjusting the pulse energy and distributed focusing to guide and maintain the laser filament between a desired point of initiation and a desired point of termination in the target, the laser filament creating a void coincident with the laser filament by annularly compressing the transparent material about the longitudinal beam axis. focusing the laser beam using the focusing lens, the laser beam focused in a distributed manner along a longitudinal beam axis, the distributed focus having a principal focus and a plurality of secondary foci (24, 50) that are linear aligned and that are spatially extended along the longitudinal axis to allow the continual refocusing of the incident beam as it travels through the target, wherein the principal focus having a strongest intensity and the secondary foci (24, 50) having a lesser intensity than the principal focus, positioning the distributed focus with respect to the target, so that the principal focus is located outside the target and not within the target and the secondary foci (24, 50) are located within the target delivering the focused laser beam to the target, the focused laser beam having sufficient fluence to initiate Kerr-effect self-focusing and propagation of the laser beam, thereby generating a laser filament that propagates along the longitudinal beam axis, the secondary foci (24, 50) maintaining the laser filament within the target; and adjusting the pulse energy and distributed focusing to guide and maintain the laser filament between a desired point of initiation and a desired point of termination in the target, the laser filament creating a void coincident with the laser filament by annularly compressing the transparent material about the longitudinal beam axis.