Formation of a periodic structure on the surface of a liquid metal by laser radiation

It is shown that the increment describing formation of a periodic structure on the surface of mercury by laser radiation under the conditions in the experiments of Keilmann [Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 2097 (1983)] is governed by the evaporation pressure p. Similar experiments involving measurement of p can give new information on the kinetics of a nonequilibrium phase transition and on the optical and thermophysical characteristics of matter in a superheated metastable state.