Gary R. Hess
Ellis L. Loree
James D. Wieting
Forest E. White
Chris M. Young
Tetra Corp., Albuquerque, NM 87109-4512
The light emitted during the collapse of large vapor bubbles has been measured. The emission lasts for tens of microseconds and is so intense it must be filtered, under our experimental conditions, to record the complete time-dependent behavior. The majority of the energy appears to be emitted well below 630 nm. Such a long duration emission appears to be more consistent with adiabatic heating than shock phenomena. The temporal shape of the emission compares well with the temporal shape of the pressure produced prior to and after collapse, as well. Such bubbles promote study of the collapse processes in regions of parameter space which are highly accessible. [Work supported by the U.S. Navy.]