Electrical Discharges Guided by Pulsed<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Co</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>-Laser Radiation

A chain of aerosol-initiated, C${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$-laser-produced, air-breakdown plasmas has been used to guide electrical discharges over distances \ensuremath{\lesssim} 2 m in laboratory air in a direction almost perpendicular to the strongest electric field. The guiding effect existed at average electric fields \ensuremath{\gtrsim} 1 kV/cm and the discharge propagation velocity (${10}^{9}$ cm/sec at 360 kV) depended on the applied potential. Such laser-initiated current-carrying channels appear to be capable of efficiently transporting relativistic electron beams in pellet-fusion reactors.