Applications of femtosecond laser spectroscopy from clusters to clouds

Nucleation phenomena of clusters or clouds, their stability, growth, chemic al activity and optical behaviour exhibit many similarities, and striking c omplementary aspects can be withdrawn from the investigation of both. As a result, moder experimental and computational tools, as they were developed for cluster science, amy well be beneficial for aerosol research and vice v ersa Most fascinating perspectives in this regard arise from femtosecond la ser spectroscopy, where experiments, which were initially motivated by unde rstanding the dynamics of clusters, now indicate exciting atmospheric appli cations like remote aerosol analysis, material-free cloud injection or the laser control of loghtnings.