科学英语：未来我们能否控制闪电的路线？.docxVIP

Lightning dart1 across the sky in a flash. And even though we can use lightning rods to increase the probability of it striking at a specific location, its exact path remains2 unpredictable. At a smaller scale, discharges between two electrodes behave in the same manner, streaking3 through space to create electric arcs where only the start and end points are fixed4. How then can we control the current so that it follows a predetermined path? Professor Roberto Morandotti and his colleagues have discovered a way to guide electric discharges--and even steer5 them around obstacles--through the clever use of lasers. This scientific breakthrough was published on June 19, 2015, in Science Advances, the new open-access journal from the prestigious6 editors of the international journal Science. Using the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) facility, researchers from the INRS énergieMatériauxTélécommunications research centre tackled this challenge, which had previously7 been the subject of intensive research, particularly in the 1970s. Electric arcs have long been used in such technologies as combustion8 engines, pollution control applications, lighting9, machining and micromachining. Potential applications could multiply with the ability to precisely10 control the path they take. A first step in this direction has been made and research into the new possibilities and parameters11 for guiding electric arcs promises to spark researchers creativity.Recent scientific and technical advances, as well as the ingenuity12 of Professor Morandottis team (particularly researcher MatteoClerici, a postdoctoral fellow with the research group at the time of the experiments), set the stage for this spectacular demonstration13, where we see an electric charge follow a smooth path along a straight or parabolic trajectory14.Experimental figures show how different shaped lasers give discharges distinct properties and trajectories15. By combining beams, it is even possible to achieve an S-shaped