@article{86de026da9524c559c7f30697cb7d1fc,
title = "Laser-assisted guiding of electric discharges around objects",
abstract = "Electric breakdown in air occurs for electric fields exceeding 34kV/cm and results in a large current surge that propagates along unpredictable trajectories. Guiding such currents across specific paths in a controllable manner could allow protection against lightning strikes and high voltage capacitor discharges. Such capabilities can be employed for delivering charge to specific targets, electronic jamming or for applications associated with electric welding and machining. Here we show that judiciously shaped laser radiation can be effectively utilized to manipulate the discharge along a complex path and to produce electric discharges that unfold along a predefined trajectory. Remarkably, such laser induced arcing can even circumvent an object that completely occludes the line of sight.",
author = "Matteo Clerici and Yi Hu and Philippe Lassonde and Carles Mili{\'a}n and Arnaud Couairon and Demetrios Christodoulides and Zhigang Chen and Luca Razzari and Fran{\c c}ois Vidal and Fran{\c c}ois L{\'e}gar{\'e} and Faccio, {Daniele Franco Angelo} and Roberto Morandotti",
note = "R.M. and F.L. gratefully acknowledge Minist{\`e}re de l {\textquoteright} Enseignement Sup{\'e}rieur, de la Re- cherche, de la Science et de la Technologie (MERST), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Fonds Qu{\'e}b{\'e}cois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT) for funding this work. M.C. acknowledges the support from the People Program (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union {\textquoteright} s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. 299522. The work of D.N.C. was supported by the Air Force Office of Sci- entific Research (AFOSR, MURI grant no. FA9550-10-1-0561), and Z.C. by the AFOSR and National Science Foundation (NSF). D.F. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council under the European Union {\textquoteright} s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no. 306559, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK, grant EP/M006514/1). A.C. and C.M. acknowledge financial support from the French Di- rection G{\'e}n{\'e}rale de l {\textquoteright} Armement (DGA). Experiments were carried out at the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) facility located at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – {\'E}nergie, Mat{\'e}riaux T{\'e}l{\'e}communications. ",
year = "2015",
month = jun,
day = "19",
doi = "10.1126/sciadv.1400111",
language = "English",
volume = "1",
journal = "Science Advances",
issn = "2375-2548",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "5",
}