PRESSURE GENERATION AND MEASUREMENT IN THE RAPID VAPORIZATION OF WATER ON A PULSED-LASER-HEATED SURFACE

The transient pressure generated by the interaction of short-pulsed la ser light with the liquid-solid interface is studied quantitatively. A KrF excimer laser beam of tens of nanoseconds pulse duration irradiat es water on a solid surface and induces rapid thermal expansion and ex plosive vaporization. The pressure pulses launched into water by such processes are detected experimentally by the photoacoustic probe beam deflection method and a broadband piezoelectric transducer. The peak i ntensities of the traveling pressure wave measured by these two method s are compared with the theoretical thermoelastic predictions, The mea surements show that a compressional pressure wave packet is radiated i i om the water solid interface with the peak intensity of the order of 1 MPa at laser fluences up to about 100 mJ/cm(2). Simultaneous monito ring of the bubble growth kinetics by the optical specular reflectance probe has been performed, It is observed that the pressure generation is enhanced by the bubble expansion in the superheated water for lase r fluences exceeding the bubble nucleation thresholds. (C) 1996 Americ an Institute of Physics.