title: Blast waves produced by interactions of femtosecond laser pulses with water.
abstract: The behaviors of the blast waves produced by femtosecond laser-water interactions, and the blast waves induced by laser self-focusing in air, have been investigated using optical shadowgraphy at a maximum intensity of 1 x 10(16) W/cm(2). The temporal evolution of the blast wave launched by the water plasma can be described by a planar blast wave model including source mass. An aneurismlike structure, due to the quick propagation inside a hollow channel formed by laser self-focusing, is observed. The expansion of the channel in air is found to agree with a cylindrical self-similar blast wave solution.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Optical Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: X Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Q Z
authors.initials: QZ
authors.lastname: Yu