Papeer Jenya, Dey Indranuj, Botton Moti, Henis Zohar, Lad Amit D, Shaikh Moniruzzaman, Sarkar Deep, Jana Kamalesh, Tata Sheroy, Roy Sudipta Lodh, Ved Yash M, Kumar G Ravindra, Zigler Arie
Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel.
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1 Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai, 400005, India.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 23;9(1):407. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36643-2.
Remote manipulation (triggering and guiding) of lightning in atmospheric conditions of thunderstorms has been the subject of intense scientific research for decades. High power, ultrashort-pulse lasers are considered attractive in generating plasma channels in air that could serve as conductors/diverters for lightning. However, two fundamental obstacles, namely the limited length and lifetime of such plasma channels prevented their realization to this date. In this paper, we report decisive experimental results of our multi-element broken wire concept that extends the generated plasma channels to the required tens of meters range. We obtain 13-meter-long plasma wire, limited only by our current experimental setup, with plasma conditions that could be sufficient for the leader initiation. This advance, coupled with our demonstrated method of laser heating for long time sustenance of the plasma channel, is a major, significant step towards controlling lightning.
几十年来，在雷暴大气条件下对闪电进行远程操纵（触发和引导）一直是深入科学研究的主题。高功率、超短脉冲激光被认为在空气中产生等离子体通道方面具有吸引力，这些通道可作为闪电的导体/分流器。然而，两个基本障碍，即此类等离子体通道的有限长度和寿命，至今阻碍了它们的实现。在本文中，我们报告了我们的多元素断线概念的决定性实验结果，该概念将产生的等离子体通道扩展到所需的几十米范围。我们获得了13米长的等离子体线，仅受我们当前实验装置的限制，其等离子体条件可能足以引发先导。这一进展，再加上我们展示的用于长时间维持等离子体通道的激光加热方法，是朝着控制闪电迈出的重要、重大一步。
