ABSTRACT The proposed project is to study the transport processes in rapid phase-change and ablation of liquids. The work is relevant to materials processing such as laser doping and cleaning of contaminants from microdevices. Emphasis will be given to the development of the temperature and stress fields in the liquid, the thermodynamics of phase change, and the mechanism of material ejection. Pulsed lasers operating primarily in the micro/nanosecond range will be used to induce phase change in liquids. In addition to visualization, the following measurements will be made: transmission and scattering, pressure field and recoil momentum, and absorption and emission spectroscopy. Theoretical modeling that accounts for short-time thermal behavior will also be conducted.
