title: Nanosecond near-spinodal homogeneous boiling of water superheated by a pulsed CO2 laser.
abstract: The fast boiling dynamics of superheated surface layers of bulk water cavitating under near-spinodal conditions during nanosecond CO2 laser heating pulses was studied using contact broad-band photoacoustic spectroscopy. Characteristic pressure-tension cycles recorded by an acoustic transducer at different incident laser fluences represent (a) weak random oscillations of transient nanometer-sized near-critical bubbles-precursors and (b) well-defined stimulated oscillations of micron-sized supercritical bubbles and their submicrosecond coalescence products. These findings provide an important insight into basic thermodynamic parameters, spatial and temporal scales of bubble nucleation during explosive liquid/vapor transformations in absorbing liquids ablated by short laser pulses in the thermal confinement regime.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Arkansas State University, State University, Arkansas 72467-0419, USA. skudryashov@astate.edu
authors.forename: Sergey I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Kudryashov
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lyon
authors.forename: Susan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Allen