Experiment Study on Discharge Characteristics of Air Gap Guided by Laser Plasma

In order to promote the practical application of laser induced lightning technology, in this paper we performed the experiment study on discharge characteristics of air gap guided by laser plasma. A solid Nd:YAG nanosecond pulse laser is used to ionize the air, produce plasma channel and then induce the breakdown of air gap between electrodes with applied high voltage. The experiment platform and measurement system was built. The dis-charge experiment, guided by different laser power (200, 400 mJ) and laser wavelength (532, 1064 nm), was developed. The effect of laser plasma parameters on the breakdown characteristics of air gap was obtained. The results show that the breakdown threshold voltages at different gap distances decrease with the laser power output and then saturate to a voltage value. At the same laser power output, the breakdown threshold voltage with 532 nm laser is lower. The results provide experimental support for the development and application of laser guided lightning.