Instability of the free boundary of a water layer accelerated by a Taylor wave

The instability of the free boundary of a thin (1 mm) water layer under the action of a Taylor wave (80 MPa), which is created by a laser pulse, has been experimentally studied. The experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of the laser Doppler method for the continuous recording of a flying object (PDV method) [O. T. Strand, D. R. Goosman, and C. Martinez, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 0831081 (2006)] for studying this problem.