This is reminiscent of the branching pattern seen in a plasma disc. (you know those things that are flat versions of plasma globes) As I understand it , emissio

This is reminiscent of the branching pattern seen in a plasma disc. (you know those things that are flat versions of plasma globes) As I understand it , emission from a plasma requires a high energy electron dropping to a lower energy with photon emission. The path of the 'collapsing energy' is linear - meaning each emission event triggers one nearby- unzipping a river of lower potential in a sea of high energy plasma. Interestingly, the directional changes of branching plasma seem to occur at sharp angles with relatively straight paths connecting the branch points. With light however, the cascade of photons is fractured into separate rivers as bundles of photons are refracted continuously by the smoothly varying thickness of the bubble. Freezing the bubble might create crystals where the thickness is not smoothly varying so angular paths might be observed as the light jumps from one crystal to the next