Gas bubble photonics: Manipulating sonoluminescence light with fluorescent and plasmonic nanoparticles

Oscillations of gas bubbles in liquids irradiated with acoustic pressure waves may result in an intriguing physical phenomenon called sonoluminescence, where a collapsing bubble emits the in a broad optical spectral range. However, the intensity of the so-generated light is typically weak for practical purposes. Recently, it has been demonstrated that nanoparticles can be used to increase the efficiency of sonoluminescence, thereby enabling one to generate light that is intense enough for a number of applications in photonics, biomedicine, and materials science. In this article, we review the latest achievements in the field of nanoparticle-enhanced sonoluminescence and showcase the perspectives of their practical applications.