Multiparameter Investigation of Laser-Induced Nucleation of Supersaturated Aqueous KCl Solutions

Abstract

Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the nonphotochemical laser-induced nucleation (NPLIN). Identifying the dominant mechanism requires addressing a large set of experimental parameters with a statistically significant number of samples, forced by the stochastic nature of nucleation. In this study, with aqueous KCl system, we focus on the nucleation probability as a function of laser wavelength, laser intensity, and sample supersaturation, whereas the influence of filtration and the laser-induced radiation pressure on NPLIN activity is also studied. To account for the nucleation stochasticity, we used 80–100 samples. The NPLIN probability showed an increase with increasing laser intensity. The results are different from the previous report, as a supersaturation independent intensity threshold is not observed. No dependence of the NPLIN probability on the laser wavelength (355, 532, and 1064 nm) was observed. Filtration of samples reduced the nucleation probability suggesting a pronounced role ...