Early Dynamics of a Laser-Induced Underwater Shock Wave

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this paper is to observe and investigate the early evolution of the shock wave, induced by a nanosecond pulsed laser in still water. A numerical method is performed to calculate the propagation of the shock wave within 1 μs, after optical breakdown, based on the Gilmore model and the Kirkwood–Bethe hypothesis. The input parameters of the numerical method include the laser pulse duration, the size of the plasma, and the maximally extended cavitation bubble, which are measured utilizing a high time-resolved shadowgraph system. The calculation results are verified by shock wave observation experiments at the cavitation bubble expansion stage. The relative errors of the radiuses and the velocity of the shock wave front reach the maximum value of 45% at 5 ns after breakdown and decrease to less than 20% within 20 ns. The high attenuation characteristics of the shock wave after the optical breakdown are predicted by the numerical method. The quick time and space evolution of the shock wave are carefully analyzed. The normalized shock wave width is found to be independent of the laser energy and duration, and the energy partition ratio is around 2.0 using the nanosecond pulsed laser.