ACOUSTIC ENERGY-STORAGE IN SINGLE BUBBLE SONOLUMINESCENCE

Single bubble sonoluminescence is understood in terms of a shock focus ing towards the bubble center. We present a mechanism for significantl y enhancing the effect of shock focusing, arising from the storage of energy in the acoustic modes of the gas. The modes with strongest coup ling are not spherically symmetric. The storage of acoustic energy giv es a framework for understanding how light intensities depend so stron gly on ambient gases and liquids and suggests that the light intensiti es of successive flashes are highly correlated.