Rayleigh scattering on the cavitation region emerging in liquids

It is shown that the scattering of laser radiation on cavitation ruptures in fluids is similar to the scattering by gas particles. When the characteristic dimensions of microscopic voids and bubbles are considerably smaller than the laser wavelength, the scattered light is in the Rayleigh regime and allows detecting cavitation in the very early stages of its inception. The simple estimates of the scattered radiation intensity and the dynamics of its changes in connection with the generation of cavitation in the test volume are obtained, allowing us to find the critical conditions for the cavitation inception.