Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
|
AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, HU, IL, IT, MK, NL, PL, PT, RS, SE, SI, UK
|
Abstract
(Englisch)
|
The project ' Lightning control using ultrashort lasers ' aims at assessing the capability of self-guided plasma channels (light filaments) generated by current ultrashort, high-power laser pulses to trigger and guide lightning strikes. We performed a renewed analysis of the raw data from a previous field campaign using the Teramobile. Using a statistical approach to correlate the laser operation with electric activity within the thunderclouds, as detected through the radiofrequency pulses emitted by the electric discharges, we found that some of the laser pulses triggered electric activity within the thunderclouds. We interpreted this activity as corona discharges at the ends of the plasma channels. The publication of those results in Optics Express [1] rose a wide interest from the general press worldwide (RSR, TSR, La Tribune de Genève, TF1, RFI, Le Monde, La Recherche, ZDF, USA Today…) for a total of more than 60 reports and articles. Based on the acquired experience, we developed a model of lightning initiation in the presence of a laser. This model helped us to define optimal conditions for lightning initiation and guiding using ultrashort laser pulses. Such optimal conditions include active triggering and steering on the laser based on the electric field in the cloud, high repetition rate and the use of pulse trains to generate long-lived plasma channels [2,3]. The generation of pulse trains will require a power beyond that available with the current Teramobile system. We are therefore working on the specification of a future Teramobile2 laser, providing 10 times more power and multipulse capability. To better understand the inter-pulse interaction, we are conducting laboratory experiments on the non-linear interaction of several co-propagating ultrashort pulses and laser filaments. We have characterized the influence of co-propagation on the pulse polarization [4], spectrum and pulse duration [5,6]. These achievements provide milestones toward the actual control of lightning using lasers. 1. J. Kasparian, et al., Electric Events Synchronized with Laser Filaments in Thunderclouds. Optics Express. 16, 5757 (2008) 2. J. Kasparian, et al., Progress towards lightning control using lasers. Journal of the Euro-pean Optical Society: Rapid Publications. 3, 08035 (2008) 3. J. Kasparian and J.P. Wolf, On lightning control using lasers, to be published in in Pro-gress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science 5. 2009 4. P. Béjot, Y. Petit, L. Bonacina, J. Kasparian, M. Moret, and J.-P. Wolf, Ultrafast gaseous 'half-wave plate'. Optics Express. 16, 7564 (2008) 5. P. Béjot, J. Kasparian, and J.-P. Wolf, Dual-color co-filamentation in Argon. Optics Ex-press. 16, 14115 (2008) 6. P. Béjot, J. Kasparian, and J.-P. Wolf, Cross compression of light bullets by two-color cofilamentation. Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics). 78, 043804 (2008)
|
