3 ms·
If you have a sufficiently powerful laser, you can create a spark that floats in mid-air. The air at the focal point gets ionized by the strong electric fields
by jbay808 4y ago
If you have a sufficiently powerful laser, you can create a spark that floats in mid-air. The air at the focal point gets ionized by the strong electric fields and looks quite dazzling (and dangerous).
That spark, in turn, can be moved around freely and emits all sorts of RF noise.
- rolph 4y agoyes you have it right on, now if we can infer the effective range of such a technique it may be apparent that the real target is about twenty miles removed from the visual manifestation of the phenomenon.
- dogma1138 4y agoAny laser that’s powerful enough to do that would leave an IR trail back to the source which would be visible with FLIR and most likely even with the naked eye due to the atmospheric effects of heating up the air.
- jbay808 4y agoNot necessarily. If it's a femtosecond pulse laser, the instantaneous power is extremely high and creates a sufficiently intense field, but the time-average power is low enough that it wouldn't create much heat away from the focus. Source: worked in a femtosecond laser lab