Imaging and analysis of photomechanical effects induced in water by high-power laser-target interaction

The kinetics of cavitation and associated photo-mechanical effects induced by underwater pulsed-laser irradiation of solid targets has been studied experimentally and analyzed with theoretical methods. A xenon-chloride excimer laser of 150 ns pulse duration has been utilized to produce ablation and local photofragmentation of artificial samples of hard tissues at fluences of 12-24 J/cm2. The evolution of pressure wave and cavitation formations developing in the liquid from the target surface after laser irradiation has been observed with a time-resolved imaging technique employing a pump-probe laser arrangement. The analysis of experimental results has been performed by using the theoretical model of "point explosion" that has been successfully applied to fit the cavitation kinetics, providing also quantitative information on the energy transfer during photo-acoustic interactions.