Thermal explosion of water drops on exposure to highpower laser radiation

Explosion of absorbing water drops, 50–800μ diameter, interacting with ruby laser pulses was investigated experimentally. Inhomogeneity of the internal optical field in drops characterized by an extinction coefficient of ~10^–4 resulted in local ejection of fine fragments in the direction of propagation of the laser beam and altered the shape of water drops. The final fragmentation of the drops was a threshold process and it was due to heating of the drops to a temperature close to the critical value.