Scientists claim the Laser Lightning Rod could avoid billions of euros of damage to critical infra annually
In 2021, a group of scientists used a helicopter to land their laser equipment on top of a Swiss mountain, 2,500m high. They focused a laser beam in the sky above a 124-metre-tall transmission tower belonging to Swisscom.
Over a period of two months, the equipment emitted intense laser pulses at 1,000 times a second to redirect lightning strikes. Four were successfully diverted.
Researchers initially used high-speed cameras to record deflecting the lightning by more than 50 metres. Three others were documented with different data.
Safeguarding critical infrastructure
The scientists say their work shows how to safeguard critical infrastructure, including power stations, airports, wind farms and launchpads. Lightning causes billions of dollars in damage on buildings, communication systems, power lines and electrical equipment annually, as well as killing thousands of people.
“We have demonstrated for the first time that a laser can be used to guide natural lightning,” physicist Aurelien Houard of Ecole Polytechnique’s Laboratory of Applied Optics in France, was quoted saying in an article published this month in nature photononics. She is project coordinator and lead author of the research.
She added, “We have shown here that these plasma columns can act as a guide for lightning…It is important because it is the first step towards a laser-based lightning protection that could virtually reach a height of hundreds of metres or a kilometre with sufficient laser energy.”