  The cavitation-driven expansion dynamics of liquid tin microdroplets is
investigated, set in motion by the ablative impact of a 15-ps laser pulse. We
combine high-resolution stroboscopic shadowgraphy with an intuitive fluid
dynamic model that includes the onset of fragmentation, and find good agreement
between model and experimental data for two different droplet sizes over a wide
range of laser pulse energies. The dependence of the initial expansion velocity
on these experimental parameters is heuristically captured in a single power
law. Further, the obtained late-time mass distributions are shown to be
governed by a single parameter. These studies are performed under conditions
relevant for plasma light sources for extreme-ultraviolet nanolithography.
