  We demonstrate optical guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in long, low
density hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channels. An axicon
lens is used to generate HOFI plasma channels with on-axis electron densities
as low as $n_e(0) = 1.5\times 10^{17}\, \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$ and matched spot
sizes in the range $ 20 \mu \mathrm{m} \lesssim W_M \lesssim 40 \mu
\mathrm{m}$. Control of these channel parameters via adjustment of the initial
cell pressure and the delay after the arrival of the channel-forming pulse is
demonstrated. For laser pulses with a peak axial intensity of $4 \times
10^{17}\, \mathrm{W\,cm}^{-2}$, highly reproducible, high-quality guiding over
more than 14 Rayleigh ranges is achieved at a pulse repetition rate of 5 Hz,
limited by the available channel-forming laser and vacuum pumping system.
Plasma channels of this type would seem to be well suited to multi-GeV laser
wakefield accelerators operating in the quasi-linear regime.
