Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Plasma formation and temperature measurement during single-bubble cavitation

Nature volume 434, pages 52–55 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Single-bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL1,2,3,4,5) results from the extreme temperatures and pressures achieved during bubble compression; calculations have predicted6,7 the existence of a hot, optically opaque plasma core8 with consequent bremsstrahlung radiation9,10. Recent controversial reports11,12 claim the observation of neutrons from deuterium–deuterium fusion during acoustic cavitation11,12. However, there has been previously no strong experimental evidence for the existence of a plasma during single- or multi-bubble sonoluminescence. SBSL typically produces featureless emission spectra13 that reveal little about the intra-cavity physical conditions or chemical processes. Here we report observations of atomic (Ar) emission and extensive molecular (SO) and ionic (O2+) progressions in SBSL spectra from concentrated aqueous H2SO4 solutions. Both the Ar and SO emission permit spectroscopic temperature determinations, as accomplished for multi-bubble sonoluminescence with other emitters14,15,16. The emissive excited states observed from both Ar and O2+ are inconsistent with any thermal process. The Ar excited states involved are extremely high in energy (>13 eV) and cannot be thermally populated at the measured Ar emission temperatures (4,000–15,000 K); the ionization energy of O2 is more than twice its bond dissociation energy, so O2+ likewise cannot be thermally produced. We therefore conclude that these emitting species must originate from collisions with high-energy electrons, ions or particles from a hot plasma core.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: SBSL spectra from 85% H2SO4(aq.) and pure water regassed with Xe and Ar (solid lines); apparent fits to blackbody spectra are given as dashed lines.
Figure 2: SBSL spectra from 85% H2SO4(aq.).
Figure 3: Emission temperatures of SBSL of 85% H2SO4(aq.) regassed with Ar/Ne mixtures (acoustic pressure 3 bar) are shown as a function of the thermal conductivity of the gas mixtures.
Figure 4: Vibronic progressions in SBSL spectra.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Barber, B. P. & Putterman, S. J. Light scattering measurements of the repetitive supersonic implosion of a sonoluminescing bubble. Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 3839–3842 (1992)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Gompf, B., Günther, R., Nick, G., Pecha, R. & Eisenmenger, W. Resolving sonoluminescence pulse width with time-correlated single photon counting. Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1405–1408 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gaitan, D. F., Crum, L. A., Church, C. C. & Roy, R. A. Sonoluminescence and bubble dynamics for a single, stable, cavitation bubble. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 3166–3183 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Lohse, D., Brenner, M. P., Dupont, T. F., Hilgenfeldt, S. & Johnston, B. Sonoluminescing air bubbles rectify argon. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1359–1362 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Brenner, M. P., Hilgenfeldt, S. & Lohse, D. Single-bubble sonoluminescence. Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 425–484 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Moss, W. C., Clarke, D. B. & Young, D. A. Calculated pulse widths and spectra of a single sonoluminescing bubble. Science 276, 1398–1401 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Moss, W. C. et al. Computed optical emissions from a sonoluminescing bubble. Phys. Rev. E 59, 2986–2992 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Burnett, P. D. S. et al. Modeling a sonoluminescing bubble as a plasma. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 71, 215–223 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hilgenfeldt, S., Grossmann, S. & Lohse, D. A simple explanation of light emission in sonoluminescence. Nature 398, 402–405 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Yasui, K. Mechanism of single-bubble sonoluminescence. Phys. Rev. E 60, 1754–1758 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Taleyarkhan, R. P. et al. Evidence for nuclear emissions during acoustic cavitation. Science 295, 1868–1873 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Taleyarkhan, R. P. et al. Additional evidence of nuclear emissions during cavitation. Phys. Rev. E 69, 036109 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hiller, R., Weninger, K., Putterman, S. J. & Barber, B. P. Effect of noble gas doping in single-bubble sonoluminescence. Science 266, 248–250 (1994)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. McNamara, W. B. III, Didenko, Y. T. & Suslick, K. S. Sonoluminescence temperatures during multi-bubble cavitation. Nature 401, 772–775 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Flint, E. B. & Suslick, K. S. The temperature of cavitation. Science 253, 1397–1399 (1991)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Didenko, Y. T., McNamara, W. B. III & Suslick, K. S. Effect of noble gases on sonoluminescence temperatures during multibubble cavitation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 777–780 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Didenko, Y. T., McNamara, W. B. III & Suslick, K. S. Molecular emission from single-bubble sonoluminescence. Nature 407, 877–879 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Greenewalt, C. H. Partial pressures of aqueous solutions of sulfuric acid. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 17, 522–523 (1925)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Troia, A., Ripa, D. M. & Spagnolo, R. in World Congress on Ultrasonics (ed. Cassereau, D.) 1041–1044 (Société Française d'Acoustique, Paris, 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Vazquez, G., Camara, C., Putterman, S. & Weninger, K. Sonoluminescence: Nature's smallest blackbody. Opt. Lett. 26, 575–577 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Didenko, Y. T. & Suslick, K. S. The energy efficiency of formation of photons, radicals and ions during single-bubble cavitation. Nature 418, 394–397 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Wiese, W. L., Brault, J. W., Danzmann, K., Helbig, V. & Kock, M. Unified set of atomic transition probabilities for neutral argon. Phys. Rev. A. 39, 2461–2471 (1989)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Toegel, R. & Lohse, D. Phase diagrams for sonoluminescing bubbles: A comparison between experiment and theory. J. Chem. Phys. 118, 1863–1875 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Cooper, R., Grieser, F., Sauer, M. C. Jr & Sangster, D. F. Formation and decay kinetics of the 2p levels of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon produced by electron-beam pulses. J. Phys. Chem. 81, 2215–2220 (1977)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Zel'dovich, Y. B. & Raizer, Y. P. Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena (Academic, New York, 1966)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Tourin, R. H. Spectroscopic Gas Temperature Measurement (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1966)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Camara, C., Putterman, S. & Kirilov, E. Sonoluminescence from a single bubble driven at 1 megahertz. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 124301 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Yasui, K. Single-bubble sonoluminescence from noble gases. Phys. Rev. E 63, 035301 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Ajello, J. M. et al. Middle ultraviolet and visible spectrum of SO2 by electron impact. J. Geophys. Res. Space 107, SIA2 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Schappe, R. S., Schulman, M. B., Sharpton, F. A. & Lin, C. C. Emission of the O2 + (A2Πu → X2Πg) second-negative-band system produced by electron impact on O2 . Phys. Rev. A 38, 4537–4545 (1988)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. We acknowledge conversations with F. Grieser on the mechanism of Ar atom emission, and with L. A. Crum, D. Lohse, W. C. Moss and S. J. Putterman.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    David J. Flannigan & Kenneth S. Suslick

Authors
  1. David J. Flannigan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kenneth S. Suslick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth S. Suslick.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Flannigan, D., Suslick, K. Plasma formation and temperature measurement during single-bubble cavitation. Nature 434, 52–55 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03361

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03361

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing