The cavitation-driven expansion dynamics of liquid tin microdroplets set in motion by the ablative impact of a 15-ps laser pulse is investigated. We combine high-resolution stroboscopic shadowgraphy with an intuitive fluid-dynamic model that includes the onset of fragmentation, and find good agreement between model and experimental data for two different droplet sizes over a wide range of laser pulse energies. The dependence of the initial expansion velocity on these experimental parameters is heuristically captured in a single power law. Further, the late-time mass distributions obtained are shown to be governed by a single parameter. These studies are performed under conditions relevant for plasma light sources for extreme-ultraviolet nanolithography.

ASML, ARCNL, VU, UvA, RUG, NWO , Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
APS
doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.10.054005
Phys. Rev. Appl.
EUV Plasma Processes

Kurilovich, D., de Faria Pinto, T., Torretti, F., Schupp, R., Scheers, J., Stodolna, A., Gelderblom, H., Eikema, K., Witte, S., Ubachs, W., Hoekstra, R.& Versolato, O. (2018). Expansion Dynamics after Laser-Induced Cavitation in Liquid Tin Microdroplets. Phys. Rev. Appl., 10(5), 054005: 1–8.https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.10.054005