Temperature and pressure dependence of sonoluminescence.

The dependence of sonoluminescence on ambient pressure and temperature is measured. As water is cooled, there occurs a 100-fold increase in light emission which can be accompanied by only slight changes in the ambient radius of the pulsating bubble. This suggests that water vapor trapped in the collapsing bubble is a key parameter for this system. For fixed concentration of gases in water, the maximum intensity of sonoluminescence decreases as the ambient pressure is lowered below 1 atm.