The Timing of Sonoluminescence

TL;DR

This study precisely measured the timing of sonoluminescence flashes across various frequencies, revealing they occur just before the bubble reaches its minimum radius, supporting a new model involving discharge from an excited cold condensate.

Contribution

It introduces a novel timing measurement of sonoluminescence and proposes a new theoretical model based on the discharge of an excited cold condensate.

Findings

Sonoluminescence occurs approximately 100 ns before minimum bubble radius.

The timing is consistent across multiple acoustic frequencies.

Supports a model involving discharge from an excited cold condensate.

Abstract

We measured the timing of sonoluminescence by observing laser light scattered from a single sonoluminescing bubble. We performed this measurement on 23.5 kHz, 17.8 kHz, 13.28 kHz and 7920 Hz systems, and found that the flash typically occurs 100 nanoseconds before the minimum radius. These results motivate a new model of sonoluminescence: the flash results from the discharge of an excited cold condensate formed during the adiabatic expansion of the bubble.