Laser ablation in water for LIBS: effects of nanosecond pulse duration upon shock wave and cavitation bubble studied by laser beam transmission probe and total optical emission

Sakka, Tetsuo (author), Kimura, Koki (author), Nishi, Naoya (author), Gregorčič, Peter (author)

We investigated early dynamics of the shock wave, cavitation bubble, and plasma in underwater laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (underwater LIBS), using a laser-beam transmission probe (LBTP) technique as well as total optical emission measurements. We examined the pulse duration effects on LBTP-related parameters and the optical emission intensity. The scattering peak observed in the LBTP signal up to 1 µs after the laser pulse is attributed to scattering from the shock wave combined with the scattering from the nascent bubble. We examined the correlation among the parameters extracted from LBTP and total optical emission intensity. The maximum of the total optical emission intensity (▫$E_{max}$▫) was correlated with the shock wave parameter (▫$S_{max}$▫) for long pulse irradiation, but not for short pulse. The results provide new insight that the expansion of nascent plasma and the enhancement of the shock wave are synergistic, and that this process can be controlled by the pulse duration on the nanosecond scale.

• Language: English
• Keywords: laser ablation in water, shock wave, cavitation bubble, laser beam transmission probe, LBTP, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, LIBS, nanosecond pulses
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 132, art. 611
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-183355
• UDC: 544.53:532.528
• ISSN on article: 0947-8396
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-026-09785-8
• COBISS.SI-ID: 281326339
• Publication date in RUL: 11.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Applied physics : Materials science & processing
• Shortened title: Appl. phys., A, Mater. sci. process.
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0947-8396
• COBISS.SI-ID: 14196007

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: laserska ablacija v vodi, udarni val, kavitacijski mehurčki, laserska prepustnostna sonda, spektroskopija lasersko povzročenega preboja, nanosekundni pulzi