A long plasma channel, formed due to the dynamic balance between the nonlinear self-focusing and the plasma defocusing in the propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in air, is demonstrated to be able to continuously propel a paper airplane without complicated focusing optics. The maximum coupling coefficient generated by the plasma channel is found to be more than 8.5 dyne/W. In the plasma channel, the detonation wave generation with the air ionization is found to be the propulsive source.
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Zheng et al. (2005) studied this question.
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