Scientists Used Lasers To Divert Lighting Bolts In The Sky

[Judi Lynn]

3. Scientists steer lightning bolts with lasers for the first time

Demo during heavy storms at top of a Swiss mountain involved firing powerful laser pulses at thunderclouds



A lightning bolt strikes over a popular neighbourhood of Bogota in 2022. The new discovery paves the way for laser-based lightning protection systems at airports, launchpads and tall buildings. Photograph: Guillermo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images

Ian Sample Science editor
@iansample
Mon 16 Jan 2023 11.00 EST

Scientists have steered lightning bolts with lasers for the first time in the field, according to a demonstration performed during heavy storms at the top of a Swiss mountain.

The feat, which involved firing powerful laser pulses at thunderclouds over several months last year, paves the way for laser-based lightning protection systems at airports, launchpads and tall buildings.

“Metal rods are used almost everywhere to protect from lightning, but the area they can protect is limited to a few metres or tens of metres,” said Aurélien Houard, a physicist at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau. “The hope is to extend that protection to a few hundred metres if we have enough energy in the laser.”

Lightning bolts are huge electrical discharges that typically spark over two to three miles. The charge carried in a bolt is so intense that it reaches 30,000C, about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. More than a billion bolts strike Earth each year, causing thousands of deaths, 10 times as many injuries, and damage that runs into tens of billions of dollars.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/16/scientists-steer-lightning-bolts-with-lasers-for-the-first-time