Exploring morphological variations of a laser-induced water jet in temporal evolution: formation of an air bubble enclosing a water drop

Abstract

We explore the spatio-temporal dynamics of a water jet that is generated by laser-induced water breakdown beneath a flat free surface. We find that morphological variations in the temporal evolution can be divided into three categories depending on the depth parameter gamma, which is the ratio of the water-breakdown depth to the maximum bubble radius. For a depth parameter in the range 0.8 <= gamma <= 1.03, we observe an intriguing pattern formation in which an air bubble perfectly encloses a water drop through the process of the Plateau-Rayleigh instability.