Cavitation bubble collapse studied at 20 million frames per second

The collapse of laser-induced bubbles in water is investigated by high speed photography at framing rates as high as 20 million frames per second. The case of a spherical bubble in an unbounded liquid is compared with the Gilmore model. Bubbles collapsing in front of a solid wall show a rich dynamics depending on their normalized distance. Unprecedented details are given of the generic sequence of events leading to multiple shock waves and bubble shape metamorphosis upon collapse.