A team of researchers has demonstrated new techniques that bring lasers as lighting rods closer to reality. When a powerful laser beam shoots through the air, it ionizes the molecules, leaving a thin trail of hot, ionized particles in its wake. Because this stream of plasma conducts electricity, it could be used to channel away a potentially damaging lightning bolt. The researchers found ways to make the length of such a plasma channel reach more than 10 times longer — a necessary advance for using the channel to redirect a lightning strike.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150924124045.htm
Shooting lightning out of the sky
24 septiembre 2015
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