Ritva Lofstedt
Seth Putterman
Phys. Dept., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Under the effect of an intense long wavelength sound field the length of a crack in a solid medium should oscillate. When the crack length is increased the imposed acoustic energy is focused down to regions of atomic dimension so as to break the fundamental bonds which determine the crystal structure. It is suggested that this energy comes out as light whose intensity is periodic with the sound wave. This analysis is based upon the elliptical model of a crack modified to include surface tension. [Work supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Basic Energy Science, Division of Engineering and Geophysics; R.L. is an AT&T Fellow.]