SIN Curved LASER Beams: Orion K. June 2009

Researchers from the University of Arizona and from the University of Central Florida have made an advancement in the study of “ultra-intense” lasers. So reports Larry Greenemeier, in his article called High-Intensity Lasers Throw Scientists a Curve, published on the 10th of April 2009 at sciam.com (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=high-intensity-lasers-curve). These lasers could improve scientific study by heightening researchers’ understanding of atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics. The lasers emit brief (only 35 femtoseconds, or 3.5 x 10-14 seconds), but powerful, pulses. However, the short nature (about 10 microns, due to the brief pulses) of these pulses makes them difficult to study.

The researches bent a laser beam; an advancement that they hope will help to show them how these lasers travel though air, and also help to find new ways of using ultra-intense lasers. To make the lasers bend, the researchers “shot” the laser blasts (called bullets) at a sheet of thin glass that had a specific thickness variation. The bullets, which originally had a round shape, were turned into a more triangle-like shape. Because of their high intensity, the laser bullets ionized the air in their wake, leaving plasma behind the pulses, and giving them extreme electromagnetic energy. The bent plasma trail that is left behind can then be scrutinized by scientists. This enables them to learn much more about the structure of laser beams, which, co-author of the research Jerome Moloney says “is very important”.

A bent laser could be used to pull lightening from clouds safely, or to illuminate upper atmosphere spectroscopic studies (such as those of ozone and atmospheric CO2).