ABSTRACT
1.1. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
The excitation of mechanical oscillations by radiation flows is one of the most typical features of the radiation-matter interaction. For instance, the well-known thunder arises when electric discharge of a lightning passes through layers of atmospheric air. The sound effect accompanying dielectric breakdown is the other manifestation of this phenomenon. As early as 1880 A.G. Bell observed the generation of pressure oscillations by passing the intermittent flow of the infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation through closed gas volume [1]. Later he used the discovered effect for designing the radiophone, a device "for producing the sound by any sort of radiation". One may consider the sound generation directly in the body of an irradiated person as a peculiar manifestation of the effect discovered by A.G. Bell. Personnel of powerful radars were the first who encountered this phenomenon [2].
