Laser heating of an aqueous aerosol particle.

Approximate analytical and full numerical solutions are obtained for the transient response of both a pure water and solution droplets to both short- and long-time laser heating. The differences in the temperature and size histories between pure water and solution droplets are elucidated. The validity of of the approximate analytical solution, extended from that of Armstrong ["Aerosol Heating and Vaporization by Pulsed Light Beams," Appl. Opt. 23, 148 (1984)] in pure water droplets, is evaluated by comparison to solution of the full governing equations.