  This paper discusses a quantum optical heating mechanism which might play an
important role in sonoluminescence experiments. We suggest that this mechanism
occurs during the final stages of the bubble collapse phase and accompanies the
thermodynamic heating due to the compression of the bubble. More concretely, it
is shown that a weak but highly inhomogeneous electric field, as it occurs
naturally during rapid bubble deformations, can increase the temperature of
strongly confined particles by several orders of magnitude on a nanosecond time
scale [A. Kurcz et al., New J. Phys. 11, 053001 (2009)]. Our model suggests
that it is possible to control sonoluminescence experiments in ionic liquids
with the help of appropriately detuned laser fields.
