Experimental techniques for imaging and measuring transient vapor nanobubbles

Imaging and measuring transient vapor bubbles at nanoscale pose certain experimental challenges due to their reduced dimensions and lifetimes, especially in a single event experiment. Here, we analyze three techniques that employ optical scattering and acoustic detection in identifying and quantifying individual photothermally induced vapor nanobubbles (NBs) at a wide range of excitation energies. In optically transparent media, the best quantitative detection can be achieved by measuring the duration of the optical scattering time-response, while in an opaque media, the amplitude of the acoustic time-response well describes NBs in the absence of stress waves. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4772958]