Dynamics of impacting a bubble by another pulsed-laser-induced bubble: Jetting, fragmentation, and entanglement

We investigate experimentally the detailed dynamics of how an existing microbubble B1 is impacted and shattered by another nearby pulsed-laser-induced microbubble B2, and the backward interaction on B2 in a thin liquid layer. Mediated by the flow field, potential energy can be accumulated or lost through the alternate compression and expansion of the two bubbles. The symmetry breaking induced by the presence of the nearby counterbubble generates push-pull-type alternate forward and backward axial jetting on the compressed bubble associated with the elongated shape or even entrainment of the counterexpanding bubble into the jet-indented boundary. The strong penetrating axial jet through B1, and its interplay with the transverse jets by the flow field surrounding B1 in the first compression stage and the second expanding stage of B1 lead to a complicated fragmentation pattern of B1. Increasing the interbubble interaction by decreasing the interbubble distance causes B2 to become entangled with B1 through its entrainments into the backward axial jet-indented region of B2, in the expansion phase of B2. At the extreme of large laser energy for B2, the leftward reexpansion of B1 is suppressed. The strong shear flow field generates many tiny bubbles around the liquid-gas boundaries of the two axial jet-induced major daughter bubbles from B1. The detailed interaction behaviors over a broad range of the energy of B2, 0.14- 0.55 μJ (corresponding to the maximum bubble expansion energy), and of the interbubble distance (170- 500 μm) are presented and discussed.