Physical processes for single bubble sonoluminescence

Analytic solutions for a sonoluminescing gas bubble have been obtained, which provide density, pressure and temperature distributions for the gas inside bubble oscillating under ultrasonic held. The solutions have revealed that sonoluminescence should occur just prior to the bubble collapse and its duration is less than 300 ps and that increase and subsequent rapid decrease in bubble wall acceleration induce the quenching of gas, consequently of the optical emission followed by the substantial temperature rise up to 100,000 K, which can be regarded as a thermal spike. Also the solutions have revealed that Guderley's similarity solution is not valid just prior to the bubble collapse. The gas temperature inside the bubble near the collapse is determined primarily by the amount of radiation heat loss. It also turns out that the number of electrons ionized, the ion species and the kinetic energy of electrons affect; the spectrum of light emission crucially. The calculated spectral radiance including the significant; tails at short wavelengths, which shows a broad maximum, is in good agreement with observed data qualitatively. Further, it has been found that the bulk modulus of the liquid is the most important liquid property for the occurance of single bubble sonoluminescence.