Sonoluminescence, definition

There are two types in acoustic cavitation. One is transient cavitation and the other is stable cavitation [14, 15]. There are two definitions in transient cavitation. One is that the lifetime of a bubble is relatively short such as one or a few acoustic cycles as a bubble is fragmented into daughter bubbles due to its shape instability. The other is that bubbles are active in light emission (sonoluminescence (SL)) or chemical reactions (sonochemical reactions). Accordingly, there are two definitions in stable cavitation. One is that bubbles are shape stable and have a long lifetime. The other is that bubbles are inactive in SL and chemical reactions. There exist... 

Spectroscopic Probes of Cavitation Conditions. Determination of the temperatures reached in a cavitating bubble has remained a difficult experimental problem. As a spectroscopic probe of the cavitation event, MBSL provides a solution. High resolution MBSL spectra from silicone oil under Ar have been reported and analyzed (7). The observed emission comes from excited state C2 and has been modeled with synthetic spectra as a function of rotational and vibrational temperatures, as shown in Figure 7. From comparison of synthetic to observed spectra, the effective cavitation temperature is 5050 =L 150 K. The excellence of the match between the observed MBSL and the synthetic spectra provides definitive proof that the sonoluminescence event is a thermal, chemiluminescence process. The agreement between this spectroscopic determination of the cavitation temperature and that made by comparative rate thermometry of sonochemical reactions is surprisingly dose (6). 

The excellence of the match between the observed MBSL and the synthetic spectra provides definitive proof that the sonoluminescence event is a thermal, chemiluminescence process. The agreement among these spectroscopic determinations5,6 of the cavitation temperature and to that made by comparative rate thermometry of sonochemical reactions4 is extremely good. 

Recent studies, especially of sonoluminescence (Ch. 1), have led to questions about the existence of a cold plasma inside the cavitation bubbles. In the usual definition, a cold plasma is an ionized state of matter in which the molecules have a temperature below a few himdred K, but the electronic temperature reaches several thousand K. The existence of ionized species in the bubbles and their implication at some stage of the reaction s initial step would make sonochemistry more or less similar to the chemistry in mass spectrometers, with consequences on the modeling and prediction of the reactivity. 

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