A short intensive laser pulse produces plasma in its path. This plasma can interact with charged particles in a storm cloud and change weather, starting rain on request and control lightning bolts. But making laser beams travel into the clouds uninterrupted was always a challenge, because beams powerful enough to control weather dissipate very quickly.

A team of optical researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida have found a way around this obstacle. They used a second lower-intensity laser beam to ‘dress’ the primary one and act as a power source for it. This extended the range of the high-intensity beam from just several centimeters to several meters in lab conditions.