Photographic Studies of Laser-Induced Pressure Impulses in Liquids

Shadow photography techniques have been used to study various effects produced in transparent liquids by the focused beam from a Q-spoiled ruby laser. The intense spherical acoustic transients generated in water and other pure liquids when dielectric breakdown occurs have been examined. In solutions of benzanthracene in benzene, in which other workers have detected two-photon absorption, a linear region is strongly affected by the laser beam and cylindrical acoustic disturbances have been observed.