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Laser-induced supersaturation and snow formation in a sub-saturated cloud chamber

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Abstract

Calculation of the saturation ratio inside vortices formed below the filament in a sub-saturation zone in a cloud chamber was given. By mixing the air with a large temperature gradient, supersaturation was sustained inside the vortices. This led to precipitation and snow formation when strong filaments were created using short focal length lenses (f = 20 and 30 cm). However, when longer filaments were formed with the same laser pulse energy but longer focal length lenses (f = 50 and 80 cm), only condensation (mist) was observed. The lack of precipitation was attributed to the weaker air flow, which was not strong enough to form strong vortices below the filament to sustain precipitation.

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Acknowledgments

The research work was supported in part by the following funding organizations: Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canada Research Chairs, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Institute for Photonics Innovation, and le Fonds Québécois pour la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), the National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB808100, 2010CB923203), National Natural Science Foundation of China (60921004, 11204329), Shanghai science and technology talent project (12XD1405200), the State Key Laboratory Program of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. TJW also acknowledges the support from 100 Talent Program of Chinese Academy Sciences and Shanghai Pujiang Program. Technical support from Mr. M. Martin of COPL, Laval University, is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics and Center for Optics, Photonics and Laser (COPL), Laval University, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Jingjing Ju, Aravindan Sridharan, Tie-Jun Wang & See Leang Chin

  2. State Key Lab of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, No. 390, Qinghe Road, Jiading District, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Jingjing Ju, Haiyi Sun, Tie-Jun Wang, Jingwei Wang, Cheng Wang, Jiansheng Liu, Ruxin Li & Zhizhan Xu

  3. Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Tomas Leisner

  4. Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Heidelberg, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Tomas Leisner

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  1. Jingjing Ju
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  2. Tomas Leisner
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  3. Haiyi Sun
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  4. Aravindan Sridharan
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  7. Cheng Wang
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  9. Ruxin Li
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  10. Zhizhan Xu
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  11. See Leang Chin
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Correspondence to Jingjing Ju or Jiansheng Liu.

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Ju, J., Leisner, T., Sun, H. et al. Laser-induced supersaturation and snow formation in a sub-saturated cloud chamber. Appl. Phys. B 117, 1001–1007 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-014-5920-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-014-5920-0

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