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An electric field aligns charges of individual atoms or molecules to be parallel to the field, allowing second-harmonic generation from a passing laser beam. The harmonic can be used to measure local electric field, for any gaseous species, with high spatial and temporal resolution. This capability opens possibilities for studying field-driven nonequilibrium phenomena, local field-enhanced processes, aerodynamic flow control, skin treatment, air purification, combustion, ignition, surface chemistry, and many other topics in physics, engineering, and medicine.
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Dogariu et al. (2017) studied this question.
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