  We explore the role of laser induced anti-alignment in enhancing molecular
orientation. A field-free enhanced orientation via anti-alignment scheme is
presented, which combines a linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulse with a
half-cycle pulse. The laser pulse induces transient anti-alignment in the plane
orthogonal to the field polarization, while the half-cycle pulse leads to the
orientation. We identify two qualitatively different enhancement mechanisms
depending on the pulse order, and optimize their effects using classical and
quantum models both at zero and non-zero temperature.
