Molecular wakes for ultrashort laser pulses

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.