  We report on the development of an ultrafast beam shaper capable of
generating Bessel beams of high cone angle that maintain a high-intensity hot
spot with subwavelength diameter over a propagation distance in excess of 8~mm.
This generates a high-intensity focal region with extremely high aspect ratio
exceeding 10~000:1. The absence of intermediate focusing in the shaper allows
for shaping very high energies, up to Joule levels. We demonstrate proof of
principle application of the Bessel beam shaper for stealth dicing of thick
glass, up to 1~cm. We expect this high energy Bessel beam shaper will have
applications in several areas of high intensity laser physics.
