Effects of liquid properties on the dynamics of under-liquid laser-induced shock process

We compared the shock processes induced when focusing a single laser pulse (1064 nm, FWHM = 13 ns) onto the surface of epoxy resin blocks immersed in glycerol, water, liquid paraffin, and silicone oils. A custom-designed time-resolved photoelasticity imaging technique was applied to observe the strength of stress wave induced inside the solid target and the propagation of shock waves in the liquid with time resolution of nanoseconds. We demonstrated that the shock impedance of the liquid caused a noticeable effect on the strength of laser-induced stress wave: Ablation in the liquid with a higher shock impedance resulted in a stronger stress. By using glycerol instead of water as the confining medium, the pulse energy required to induce a certain level of stress was reduced by about 20 %. The dynamical behaviors of the main shock wave and the reflected wave in inverted V-shape in each liquid are also discussed in details.