  we report an ultrafast synchrotron x-ray phase contrast imaging study of the
primary breakup mechanism of a coaxial air-assisted water jet. We demonstrate
that there exist great similarities in the phenomenology of primary breakup
with that of the secondary breakup. Especially, a membrane-mediated breakup
mechanism dominates the breakup process for a wide range of air speeds. This
finding reveals the intrinsic connections of these two breakup regimes and has
deep implications on the unified theoretical approach in treating the breakup
mechanism of high speed liquid jet.
