Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12261131495, 12475008, and 12374281), a research team led by Professor Chaoqing Dai from Zhejiang A&F University, in collaboration with domestic and international scientists, has made progress in the field of "soliton-like" bubble cavitation launching. The team proposed the design concept of "light-driven cavitation", achieving motion performance metrics for micro-device launching with a height of up to 1.5 meters (1500 times its body length), launch speed of 12 m/s, peak acceleration exceeding 7×10⁴ m/s², and energy efficiency of 0.64%. Their latest study, under the title "Launching by Cavitation", were published in the journal Science on August 28, 2025. Link to full text: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu8943.

Cavitation in liquids is typically induced by low pressure or high temperature and has traditionally been viewed as a destructive process. However, it harbors potential for extremely high energy density and ultrafast energy conversion. Existing biomimetic launching technologies are primarily based on elastic energy storage or phase-change expansion mechanisms in solid materials. The former is limited by material energy storage density and deformation rates, while the latter (e.g., combustion or boiling) achieves higher energy density but struggles with precise control.

Dai’s team suppressed phase-change processes in liquids to approach the thermodynamic stability limit, generating "soliton-like" vapor bubbles. These bubbles collapse violently after destabilization, releasing ultrahigh power and shock pressure instantaneously to trigger rapid high-speed initiation of devices from a stationary state. This mechanism establishes a novel launching paradigm centered on "cavitation-driven" principles, aiming to overcome bottlenecks in startup speed and output power for small-scale devices under diverse material, medium, excitation, and environmental conditions.

This research not only addresses long-standing fundamental scientific issues in efficient utilization of cavitation in the field of nonlinear physics, but also establishes a new paradigm for precise micro-manipulation. It transforms cavitation behavior from random and destructive to controllable and dynamic; extends cavitation effects to the domain of microscale precision control; employs the Gilmore model to describe "soliton-like" bubble evolution, and constructs a theoretical and experimental framework for photothermal-mechanical-fluidic multiphysics coupling; and achieves a leap from qualitative description to quantitative prediction. This breakthrough not only advances the field of nonlinear physics but also provides new technological pathways and theoretical foundations for micro-nano manufacturing, biomedicine, and precision manipulation.

Figure The variation patterns of real-time pressure and jet velocity within a cavitation physical field.