Enhanced field-free alignment of molecules

Summary form only given. We consider strategies for the efficient transient alignment of linear polarizable molecules by a sequence of short linearly polarized non-resonant laser pulses. The problem is treated as a process of squeezing in the angular coordinate. It is analyzed both classically and quantum-mechanically, also at finite temperature. We demonstrate, that for a single strong pulse, the most angularly squeezed molecular state appears after a semiclassical catastrophe in the evolution of the excited molecular rotational wave packet. Time-domain angular focusing is followed by the creation of angular rainbows and glories in the molecular angular distribution. At finite temperature, the glory peaks have sharp dips exactly along the laser polarization direction.