Abstract

A computer model of the explosive vaporization of single water droplets by pulsed CO₂-laser radiation is compared with the relevant experiments. The model shows excellent quantitative agreement with the experiments, to our knowledge the first time such agreement has been observed. The importance of fluid mechanics during the pulse is demonstrated, and a second computer model illustrates how a spherically symmetric explosion can evolve even under conditions of nonuniform heating. The two models reconcile the differences between predictions made by Mie theory and observations of droplet heating.

© 1988 Optical Society of America

Delay of explosive vaporization in pulsed laser-heated droplets

Bae-Sig Park, A. Biswas, R. L. Armstrong, and R. G. Pinnick
Opt. Lett. 15(4) 206-208 (1990)

Propagation of laser breakdown and detonation waves in transparent droplets

Joseph C. Carls and James R. Brock
Opt. Lett. 13(4) 273-275 (1988)

Water droplets irradiated by a pulsed CO₂ laser: comparison of computed temperature contours with explosive vaporization patterns

J. D. Pendleton
Appl. Opt. 24(11) 1631-1637 (1985)

Dynamics and Energetics of the Explosive Vaporization of Fog Droplets by a 10.6-μm Laser Pulse

Peter Kafalas and Jan Herrmann
Appl. Opt. 12(4) 772-775 (1973)

Time-resolved shadowgraphs of large individual water and ethanol droplets vaporized by a pulsed CO₂ laser

Carol F. Wood, David H. Leach, Jian-Zhi Zhang, Richard K. Chang, and Peter W. Barber
Appl. Opt. 27(11) 2279-2286 (1988)