Single Bubble Sonoluminescence

Abstract:

Bubbles of air in a liquid medium can experience a rapid series of expansions and contractions when exposed to high frequency sound at high levels of intensity. If the intensity is within a certain range the bubbles will begin to emit a faint blue light, due to phenomena as of yet unexplained. This is called multi bubble sonoluminescence (MBSL), and is exhibited by a variety of liquids.

If the same procedure is repeated in water in which the dissolved gas has been removed, and a bubble is introduced into the system, similar results will be produced. This single bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL) allows a closer study of the phenomenon because the isolated bubble can be studied without the interference from other bubbles.

The light emitted by this single bubble has proven, in fact, to be a rapid flashing. Each flash coincides with the collapse in the radius of the bubble, and is very consistent in the length between flashes and the duration of each flash.

SPS Undergraduate Lab Goals:

At this point we are merely interested in reproducing SBSL. If it proves that we can do this we may develop our investigation further.

Sources:

Barber, B. P. Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA, 1992.
Crum, Lawrence A. "Sonoluminescence." Physics Today, September 1994. pgs 22-29.
Gaitan, D. Felipe, Lawrence A. Crum, Charles C. Church, Ronald A. Roy. "Sonoluminescence and Bubble Dynamics for a Single, Stable, Cavitation Bubble." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, June 1992. pgs. 3166-3183.
Putterman, Seth J. "Sonoluminescence: Sound into Light." Scientific American, February 1995. pgs 46-51.
Putterman, Seth J. "Producing Light from a Bubble of Air." Scientific American, February 1995. pgs 96-98.

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