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It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but real-life scientists have been busy working on a super-precise laser tractor beam system to change the path and direction of the lightning.
There is also a very practical reason behind it: Lightning strikes are the leading natural cause of bushfires in Australia and a growing number of fires in the United States, so a lightning deflection system has the potential to save lives. keep wildlife safe and protect huge tracts of vital ecosystems.
“We can imagine a future where this technology can induce electrical discharges from passing lightning, helping guide it to safe targets and reduce the risk of catastrophic fires,” says physicist Vladlen Shvedov of the Australian National University.
The system uses a laser beam that mirrors the same process used by lightning, creating a specific path and target for an electrical discharge.
Put simply, lightning is just an electric current bridging the gap between a positively charged point on the ground and a negatively charged point at the base of a thundercloud (created by the intense activity of frozen raindrops).
The laser beam proposed by the researchers establishes a point for the release of this electrical discharge; in their experiments, they used graphene microparticles as a charge mediator.
“Here we propose and demonstrate an efficient approach to triggering, trapping and guiding electrical discharges in the air. It is based on the use of a low-power continuous wave swirling beam that traps and carries light-absorbing particles in mid-air. “writes the team in the study.
Of course, researchers have not yet tested such a laser-induced air heating system with real lightning strikes in nature, but the small-scale results obtained in the laboratory suggest that electrical discharges such as lightning can be precisely controlled.
“The experiment simulated atmospheric conditions similar to those found in real lightning,” says Shvedov.
The technology works over long distances and requires only a low-power laser, which makes the system economical, accurate and easy to assemble. The laser intensity used here is about a thousand times lower than in previous research.
While the term tractor beam actually originated in science fiction and has since been adapted by shows such as Star Trek – the laser system developed here corresponds to the description. It is lightning in motion rather than the USS Enterprise, but the same principle applies.
In addition to lightning, the same careful control of electrical discharges shown here could also be used in manufacturing and medicine, for example to carefully remove cancerous tissue without invasive surgery.
“We have an invisible thread, a pen with which we can write light and control the electrical discharge down to about one-tenth the width of a human hair,” says physicist Andrey Miroshnichenko, of the University of New South Wales, Canberra.
“We are really at the beginning of learning what this completely new technology could mean.”
The research was published in Nature Communications.
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