Effects of alcohols on multi-bubble sonoluminescence spectra

Spectra of multi-bubble sonoluminescence (MBSL) were measured in argon-saturated water and ethanol solutions in the concentration range 2-100 mM at the frequencies of 116 kHz and 1.0 MHz. The spectral peaks from OH-radical emission near 310 nm were observed at relatively low ultrasonic power at both frequencies. The sub-peaks at 290 and 340 nm were also observed, which are attributed to OH-radical vibronic transition. The MBSL spectra from ethanol solutions indicated that the quenching of OH-radical emission was more efficient than that of underlying continuous spectrum. The continuous spectrum suggested the decrease in temperature with increasing ethanol concentration. The concentration dependence of spectrum quenching showed no frequency dependence. A new peak was observed at 385 nm only at small ethanol concentrations and at the frequency of 1.0 MHz, which attributed to CH or CN molecule emission.