Sono-luminescence with Nanotubes

Sono-luminescence is an intriguing phenomenon where sound waves (sono) impinging on a liquid create flashes of light (luminescence). The physics behind this is quite complicated, yet recent research had shed some light on it. It appears that bubbles created by the sound waves inside the liquid, due to negative pressure, suddenly implode very fast, an event called cavitation, creating such high pressures and temperatures that they cause inside atoms and molecules to radiate. In other words, sound waves propagate through the liquid, alternating between high pressure and low pressure of the liquid medium. Due to the high intensity of the sounds waves, the (relative) negative pressure causes bubbles, i.e. pockets of gases, inside the liquid. These implode, i.e. the liquid crashes the bubbles, so fast and hard that the temperatures inside these bubbles are so high that anything inside the gas bubbles emits heat and sometimes, in unique conditions, radiation in the visible spectrum, i.e. light. Sono-luminescence has even been suggested as a possible avenue to cold-fusion, the alchemist stone of the modern age.

Nanotubes, on the other hand, are very small (nano = 10 to the power of -9, of a meter) tubes made out of carbon atoms. They hold great promise in many research areas since their properties are quite unique. They are extremely strong, yet bendable; they can be either conductive or isolators, depending on their condition; and they can be (relatively) easily manufactured in different sizes, length, shapes and constellations. The tubes circumference is made of covalently tied carbon atoms in a unique arrangement. They are usually produced in a liquid solvent.

Here comes the crux: the inside of the nanotube is very small, yet can accommodate the molecules and atoms that are part of the liquid the nanotubes are in. I suggest a sono-luminescence experiment in which the liquid contains nanotubes. The reason such an experiment could have interesting effects is that the cavitation, i.e. the implosion of the bubbles, can happen inside the nanotubes. The effects of such harsh conditions, namely, high pressures and high temperatures, on the nanotubes can be of great interest in the now extremely growing community. Furthermore, since there is a unique interplay between sound waves and electromagnetic waves in a nanotube environment, there could be interesting interactions between acoustic resonances (phonons) and electromagnetic ones (photons). The small size of the nanotubes makes the strength of these interactions very strong as they can be a waveguide and/or cavity-like amplifiers for both types of waves.