Invited paper Bubble nucleation and pressure generation

Abstract. Bubble nucleation and growth dynamics, on a nanosecond time scale, induced by pulsed laser heat-ing of a liquid–solid interface are studied experimentally. A surface-plasmon probe is implemented as a novel, high-ly sensitive method for the study of submicroscopic bubbles, providing accurate information on the nucleation thresh-olds, growth velocities, and transient pressure generation by rapid bubble growth. Owing to the higher sensitivi-ty of the surface plasmon probe to small bubbles, it is demonstrated that bubble nucleation sets in at a lower li-quid superheating than previously determined with the use of optical reflectance or piezoelectric transducer measure-ments. A comparison of experimentally determined bubble growth velocities with computational results confirms that bubble growth is governed by the heat transfer from the soli