Abstract
Various methods have been attempted to trigger lightning. It is known that lightning can be triggered by inserting a conducting path to ground at a speed higher than the speed of space-charge ions. This principle has been implemented by firing small rockets, pulling up grounded wires.1 Since the speed of the rocket is not always sufficient to prevent formation of space-charges, a preferred method would be to create a conducting path with a laser beam. A previous attempt created avalanche ionization of air2 with an intense laser; the method failed because the dense plasma obturates the beam.
© 1992 Optical Society of America
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