Study of consecutive long-lived meter-scale laser-guided sparks in air

We study the creation and evolution of meter-scale long-lived laser-guided electric discharges and the interaction between consecutive guided discharges. The lifetime of guided discharges from a Tesla high voltage generator is first increased up to several milliseconds by the injection of additional current. The subsequent discharge evolution is measured by recording the electric current and by Schlieren and fluorescence imaging. A thermodynamic model of the gas evolution is developed to explain the discharge evolution. Finally, we analyze the succession of laser-guided discharges generated at 10 Hz.