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Molecular wakes for ultrashort laser pulses

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  • Femtochemistry, Femtobiology and Femtophysics
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Abstract

The molecular wake-assisted interaction between two collinear femotosecond laser pulses is investigated in air, which leads to the generation of a controllable 1.8 mJ super-continuum pulse with an elongated self-guided channel due to the cross-phase modulation of the impulsively aligned diatomic molecules in air. For two parallel launched femtosecond laser pulses with a certain spatial separation, controllable attraction and repulsion of the pulses are observed due to the counter-balance among molecular wakes, Kerr and plasma effects, where the molecular wakes show a longer interaction distance than the others to control the propagation of the intense ultrashort laser pulses.

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Correspondence to Jian Wu.

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Cai, H., Wu, J., Lu, P. et al. Molecular wakes for ultrashort laser pulses. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 53, 1036–1039 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-010-3217-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-010-3217-9

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