Sonoluminescence


Sonoluminescence (SL) is a fascinating effect of the light emission from the gaseous bubbles in liquids. The SL bubbles are driven by ultrasonic field, which makes them oscillate with ultrasonic frequency. If bubbles are driven strongly enough, short bursts of light are emitted once during each period of the sound field.

The effect have been known for many years. But, just recently it become possible to produce single bubble SL, and to get much better insight into the effect and its characteristics.

We have done a considerable amount of theoretical research in the field of sonoluminescence. The research started around 1992, when only very little was known about SL. We formulated few theoretical models with the goal of explaining the effect. Our research from this "early" period is summarized in the following papers:

New experimental results, which appeared in parallel with our work, gave us an idea that the effect responsible for the SL probably has to do with the emission of the shock wave(s) in a bubble. We solved the gas dynamics equation in the bubble combined with the equation which governs the motion of the bubble boundary and were able to confirm the experimental predictions - shock waves were really produced in the SL bubbles. On the course of research, we realized that extremely high temperatures and pressures develop in the SL bubbles, and that it is necessary to go behind fluid dynamics to really understand the physics of the hot gas in the bubbles. Correspondingly we included the losses of energy because of variety of physical processes going on in the gas in the bubbles. This allowed us to formulate the realistic model for the bubble dynamics, shock production and the emission of visible light (SL pulse). This work has been summarized in two of our papers: