A key parameter underlying the existence of sonoluminescence (or SL) is the time dependence of the radius $R\left(t\right)\mathrm{}$ of the collapsing bubble from which SL originates. With regard to the use of light scattering to measure this quantity, we wish to note that we disagree with the statement of Gompf and Pecha—highly compressed water causes the minimum in scattered light to occur 700 ps before SL—and that this effect leads to an overestimate of the bubble wall velocity. We discuss potential artifacts in their experimental arrangement and reply to their criticisms of our experiments on Mie scattering.

• Received 9 August 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.64.038301