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Electric events synchronized with laser filaments in thunderclouds

2008; Optica Publishing Group; Volume: 16; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1364/oe.16.005757

1094-4087

Jérôme Kasparian, Roland Ackermann, Yves-Bernard André, G. Méchain, G. Méjean, B. Prade, Philipp Rohwetter, Estelle Salmon, K. Stelmaszczyk, Jin Yu, A. Mysyrowicz, R. Sauerbrey, L. Woeste, Jean‐Pierre Wolf,

Combustion and flame dynamics

We investigated the possibility to trigger real-scale lightning using ionized filaments generated by ultrashort laser pulses in the atmosphere. Under conditions of high electric field during two thunderstorms, we observed a statistically significant number of electric events synchronized with the laser pulses, at the location of the filaments. This observation suggests that corona discharges may have been triggered by filaments.