  Under continuous laser irradiation, noble metal nanoparticles immersed in
water can quickly heat up, leading to the nucleation of so-called plasmonic
bubbles. In this work, we want to further understand the bubble nucleation and
growth mechanism. In particular, we quantitatively study the effect of the
amount of dissolved air on the bubble nucleation and growth dynamics, both for
the initial giant bubble, which forms shortly after switching on the laser and
is mainly composed of vapor, and for the final life phase of the bubble, during
which it mainly contains air expelled from water. We found that the bubble
nucleation temperature depends on the gas concentration: the higher the gas
concentration, the lower the bubble nucleation temperature. Also, the long-term
diffusiondominated bubble growth is governed by the gas concentration. The
radius of the bubbles grows as R(t)~t^1/3 for airequilibrated and
air-oversaturated water. In contrast, in partially degassed water, the growth
is much slower since, even for the highest temperature we achieve, the water
remains undersaturated.
