Aurélien Houard, Pierre Walch, Thomas Produit, Victor Moreno, Benoit Mahieu, Antonio Sunjerga, Clemens Herkommer, Amirhossein Mostajabi, Ugo Andral, Yves-Bernard André, Magali Lozano, Laurent Bizet, Malte C Schroeder, Guillaume Schimmel, Michel Moret, Mark Stanley, W A Rison, Oliver Maurice, Bruno Esmiller, Knut Michel, Walter Haas, Thomas Metzger, Marcos Rubinstein, Farhad Rachidi, Vernon Cooray, André Mysyrowicz, Jérôme Kasparian, Jean-Pierre Wolf
Lightning discharges between charged clouds and the Earth's surface are responsible for considerable damages and casualties. It is therefore important to develop better protection methods in addition to the traditional Franklin rod. Here we present the first demonstration that laser-induced filaments-formed in the sky by short and intense laser pulses-can guide lightning discharges over considerable distances. We believe that this experimental breakthrough will lead to progress in lightning protection and lightning physics...
2023: Nature Photonics