1. Single Bubble Sonoluminescence
Senior Thesis to partially fulfill the requirements
for the Honors Degree in Physics
at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Denis Seletskiy

2. Sonoluminescence - Introduction - Brief History - Parameters
- Existing Theories
My Experiment
Calculations
- Conclusion

3. Introduction What is Sonoluminescence (SL)?
Single bubble SL (SBSL) and multiple bubble SL (MBSL)

4. Brief History Pre-discovery period Discovery of MBSL (1934)
- Lord Rayleigh (cavitation 1917)
Discovery of MBSL (1934)
- Frenzel and Schultes (photo plates)
Discovery of SBSL (1988)
- Gaitan ( Flynn’s formulation)
Subsequent developments
- Flash duration, flash spectrum, timing,
temperature, bubble radius, bubble
stability (Putterman et al.; Weninger et al.)

5. Parameters Radius of the Bubble in Time Flash Duration
Spectrum and Temperature
Intensity and Temperature
Effect of Bubble Gas on Emissions
Dipole Emissions

6. Radius of the Bubble
From : S. Putterman, Sonoluminescence: Sound into Light,
Scientific American, 272 (1995)

7. Flash Duration Streak camera images SBSL < 6ps
Limited by fast streak camera resolution of 2ps
From: M.Moran et al., Observations of Single-Pulse Sonoluminescence
(from LLNL e-preprint server www-phys.llnl.gov)

8. Spectrum and Temperature
Solid – blackbody spectrum (T=25000K)
Dotted – SL
No spectral lines on 1nm resolution scale, (compare to MBSL)
• Note: UV absorption
From: R.Hiller et al., Spectrum of Synchronous Picosecond
Sonoluminescence, Phys. Rev. Letters, 69 (1992)

9. Intensity and Temperature
Reducing T results in: a) Intensity increase b) UV shift in spectrum
From: R.Hiller et al, Spectrum of Synchronous Picosecond Sonoluminescence,
Phys. Rev. Letters, 69 (1992)

10. Effect of Gas on Emissions
Noble Gas Doping
Intensity normalized to emissions of air
Most efficient at 1% doping
From: R. Hiller et al, Effect of Noble Gas Doping in Single Bubble
Sonoluminescence, Science 266, (1994)

11. Dipole Emission Pattern
• Bubble eccentricity ~ .01
• Less stable than spherical emissions
Figure shows intensity due to refraction
of light from a point source through an
elliptical interface (non-spherical bubble)
From:  K. Weninger et al, Angular correlations in sonoluminescence: Diagnostic
for the sphericity of a collapsing bubble, Phys. Rev. E 54, (1996)

12. Existing Theories Shock Wave Theory (UCLA) Putterman et al.
- as discussed before on the Radius slide
- shortcomings: dI/dT >0; noble gas doping; stability
- atomic emission timescale ~ ns = 1000x flash timescale
• High Pressure Gas Scintillator (Duke) Tornow
- agreement with gas doping and UV spectrum peak
- shortcomings: fails to explain the picosecond flash duration
• Jet Formation Theory (John Hopkins) Prosperetti
- jet fracturing of the wall of the bubble – produces light
- manages to explain almost all of the properties

13. My Experiment

14. Cell 100 ml Kimax flask with radius 3.05 cm Resonant frequency
(27.0±0.3) kHz
• Two driving and one
sensor piezoelectric
transducers

15. Transducers Piezo-electric with intrinsic polarization: P = 3.3 V/nm
C = 750 pF
• Curie point 300 °C
Displacement 195 nm p-p at maximum drive

16. Electrical Circuit
Put bigger font
RLC circuit with variable inductance; tune to match the mechanical resonance frequency

17. Inductance Match OUT OF PHASE IN PHASE
In resonant condition voltage swing across the transducers was about 650 V p-p

18. Sonoluminescent Flash•
• Digitally photographed using a f=20 cm lens

19. Digitally Enhanced 16X magnification of previous image
• Note: the edge is brighter, suggesting hollow sphere
• Note: dipole-like emission?

20. Comparison Good agreement with my picture
Note: radius of glowing bubble is about 10 µm
From: M.Moran et al, Observations of Single-Pulse Sonoluminescence,
www-phys.llnl.gov

21. Calculations

22. Conclusion

23. Black

24. Thank you