Optical cavitation probe using light scattering from bubble clouds.

To understand the behaviour of systems containing clouds of bubbles (multibubble system) in real sonochemical reactors, a new diagnosis method, i.e., optical cavitation probe (OCP), has been proposed. When a laser beam is introduced into the cavitation bubble cloud, the scattered light intensity changes by the collective oscillation of cavitation bubbles. The frequency domain spectrum of the scattered light contains rich information on the cavitation bubble clouds, comparable with the acoustic emission spectra detected by a hydrophone. The significant merits of OCP, such as capability for spatially resolved, non-invasive measurement of the cavitation bubble clouds, robustness even in a violent cavitation field have been experimentally demonstrated.