Single-bubble sonoluminescence in microgravity

Single-bubble sonoluminescence refers to the emission of light from an acoustically trapped bubble undergoing highly nonlinear, presumably radial oscillations. The intensity of the emitted light depends strongly on the forcing pressure, and is limited by the development of instabilities that ultimately results in the extinction of the bubble. In this article, we discuss a possible contributing factor for the generation of instabilities; specifically, we examine the effect of the gravitational force on a sonoluminescence bubble.