Growth and decay dynamics of a stable microbubble produced at the end of a near-field scanning optical microscopy fiber probe

Low power cw laser radiation coupled into a near-field scanning optical microscopy fiber probe has been used to generate a stable microbubble in water. A probe tip which was selectively chemically etched and metallized served as a microheater for the generation of the stable bubble. Bubble diameters in the range of 40–400 μm and lifetimes of over an hour have been obtained. The microbubble exhibited a linear growth phase over a period of a few seconds before reaching a maximum diameter which depended on the laser power. When the laser beam was blocked the microbubble decayed with a rate which was inversely proportional to the bubble diameter. The bubble lifetime depended on the square of the initial bubble diameter. Instabilities which transform a large stable bubble into a microjet stream of micron sized bubbles as the laser power was increased is also described.