2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/135559We show that ballistic transport of optically excited atoms in an atomic vapor provides a nonlocal nonlinearity which stabilizes the propagation of vortex beams and higher order modes in the presence of a self-focusing nonlinearity. Numerical experiments demonstrate stable propagation of lowest and higher order vortices over a hundred diffraction lengths, before dissipation leads to decay of these structures.3 figuresOpticsAtomic Physicstext