Princeton University Department of Physics Colloquium

Following our measurement of the 12 order of magnitude energy focusing in sonoluminescence, where long wavelength sound waves are concentrated by a bubble to produce UV light, our group has explored other systems where "catastrophic" nonlinearities produce "counterintuitive" energy concentration. Instabilities of the optical phonon spectra that lead to ferroelectricity can generate internal fields of 15.million volts per cm. So a 1cm thick crystal of LiNbO3 can be used as a generator of nuclear fusion. Predictions for crystals with internal fields that are 10 times higher will be discussed. Triboluminescence, where the surface between two interacting bodies can be a source of light, has been studied for centuries. The emission of nanosecond long 100.mW pulses of X-Ray photons from peeling tape indicates that triboluminescence can be the tail of a highly energetic process". In view of the second law of thermodynamics, these phenomena beg the question, Why does Nature produce such energy-focusing steady states and what are their theoretical constraints"?