Researchers using high-powered lasers to redirect lightning

PITTSBURGH — “All of a sudden, I smelled something. The smell of electrical wire burning,” homeowner Julie Baruchman said. For Baruchman, a lightning strike sparked the flames that gutted her house last summer.

And just two weeks ago, lightning shot through the walls of a Brookline home, leaving behind a hole near the ceiling and plaster.

“It was really scary. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said resident Brad Fallos.

Lightning occurs when electrical charges separate, creating a weak spot in the atmosphere. When that happens, lightning can strike a target, like a house or a stadium.

Researchers have successfully used a high-powered laser to artificially create a weak spot in the atmosphere, directing lightning toward a preferred target, like a lightning rod.

Jean-Pierre Wolf is a professor at the University of Geneva and part of the research team that guided lightning with a laser at a telecommunications tower on top of a Swiss mountain.

“So, I could really see the lightning really following the laser beam,” said Wolf.

Morris Cohen, an associate professor at Georgia Tech, says the laser heats up the air creating a little tunnel for lightning.

“What the laser can do is it can create a slight weak spot. And as the natural lightning is coming through, it’s going to prefer to go through that weak spot,” said Cohen.

Researchers believe lasers someday could be used to protect launch pads, nuclear power plants, stadiums, and airports.

“Lightning striking near an airport is one of the big reasons why aviation is shut down in the context of thunderstorms,” Cohen said.

In fact, a lightning strike three years ago at Pittsburgh International Airport created a three-foot by five-foot hole in a concrete runway.

“We were kind of scratching our heads because there’s a lot of taxiway lights all around that have metal. You think it would go for that first,” said Trudy Shertzer, the operations duty manager at Pittsburgh International Airport.

“Whenever there is lightning, we have a lot of protocols in place to make sure everyone is safe,” she says.

Shertzer and her team monitor quickly changing summer conditions by using a high-tech satellite-based computer that detects lightning strikes in the area, and a color-coded warning system.

“Once we get to a yellow, that’s more of a cautionary stage. Lightning has struck within 12 and a half to 15 miles of the airport,” she said.

When lightning is within five miles of the airport, it’s stage red. All pre-flight operations cease and ground crews take cover.

But would lasers potentially have a role in safety at Pittsburgh International?

“Obviously, as long as it gets approved by the FAA and everything like that...but I think it’s wonderful that they’re trying to be innovative and come up with some new way to prevent lightning strikes,” Shertzer added.

The researchers say that’s a few years away, and that there’s much more work to be done before lasers can be ready for commercial use.

“I think it would be a tremendous benefit. I mean, it could be a lifesaver,” said Baruchman.

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