Experimental investigation on the behavior of a liquid metal jet under nanosecond laser ablation

An experimental investigation was conducted on the motion of a micrometer-sized gallium-indium (Ga-In) jet in nitrogen, which was subjected to intense Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd: YAG) laser pulses with energy ranging from 0.35 to 5.0 mJ. The rapid deformation of the jet was captured using timed-delayed stroboscopic shadowgraphy, and the shockwave expansion in nitrogen was visualized with effective energy calculated using Taylor's blast model. The growth of the jet gap after a laser shock of different energy pulses was predicted using an equation derived from water jets. An empirical relation for the cavern dynamics as a function of laser pulse energy was obtained. Additionally, it was found that the laser-blast-induced initial velocity of the cavern depression of the jet could be predicted using the power law of an In-Sn droplet of tens of micrometers.