Laser-induced water condensation in air

Triggering rain on demand is an old dream of mankind, with a huge potential socio-economical benefit. To date, efforts have mainly focused on cloud-seeding using silver salt particles. We demonstrate that self-guided ionized filaments generated by ultrashort laser pulses are also able to induce water-cloud condensation in the free, sub-saturated atmosphere. Potential contributing mechanisms include photo-oxidative chemistry and electrostatic effects. As well as revealing the potential for influencing or triggering water precipitation, laser-induced water condensation provides a new tool for the remote sensing of nucleation processes in clouds.