TIL powerful pulsed lasers can direct lightning

[julianthedragon]

>> Article Here <<



If my understanding is right, the high-intensity laser pulse blasts a pillar of air particles out of the way, and that low density air pillar becomes the lightning rod. Just nuts

The light energy itself isn't conductive of course, but this is a pretty cool almost-direct interaction between laser light and electicity, I wonder if it can be scaled down at all

 

[Unown (WILD)]

That's genius. We know that lightning tends to follow the path of least resistance right so this make perfect sense.

 

[kecked]

So how do they stop the lightning from destroying their laser everytime it strikes. I guess they defocus the beam and recollimate it just before send it to the sky? Launch from fiber?

 

[RedCowboy]

If the laser makes an ionized path the lightning will follow it, could even draw a bolt from the clouds, they would have the laser shown through a hollow ( well grounded ) lightning rod, so the lightning would hit the grounded rod before it could get to the light source..... being a laser beam the grounded interceptor the beam goes through could be plenty far from the light source....could even use several.

 

[kecked]

true. Fire up a hollow rod. There is no current on the inside likely

 

[julianthedragon]

If the laser makes an ionized path the lightning will follow it, could even draw a bolt from the clouds, they would have the laser shown through a hollow ( well grounded ) lightning rod, so the lightning would hit the grounded rod before it could get to the light source..... being a laser beam the grounded interceptor the beam goes through could be plenty far from the light source....could even use several.

Great idea. I wonder if we’re thinking of solutions for problems they haven’t run into yet — “They only showed 50 meters of [guiding] length, and most lightning channels are kilometers long” — or if they’ve already implemented something like this. They don’t specify whether that 50m is near the ground or a fraction of a bolt in the air, but I’m leaning towards the latter.

Here is another article about their experiment that includes some pictures of their setup on top of a mountain and the inside of the laser:

A super laser on Säntis mountain: TRUMPF fires up laser lightning rod in Swiss Alps

TRUMPF and the University of Geneva successfully conduct first experiments in EU Laser Lightning Rod project // TRUMPF ‘super laser’ lies at heart of system // “We fire a thousand laser pulses a second to discharge the lightning safely”, says laser developer Herkommer

www.trumpf.com

 

[kecked]

Ahhh I didn’t read that right. They are draining the charge not making a bolt