Ice-enhanced thermoelastic excitation of ultrasonic waves

The thermal expansion occurring when a laser beam is incident on the surface of a solid can be used to excite ultrasonic waves in the solid medium, without causing damage to the material. The resulting wavefield is characterized by a dominant shear wave and a weak compressional wave. This Letter dem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2024-01, Vol.124 (5)
Main Authors: Kawabata, T., Hayashi, T., Simonetti, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Laser applications
Laser beams
Nondestructive testing
Thermal expansion
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Summary:The thermal expansion occurring when a laser beam is incident on the surface of a solid can be used to excite ultrasonic waves in the solid medium, without causing damage to the material. The resulting wavefield is characterized by a dominant shear wave and a weak compressional wave. This Letter demonstrates the possibility of generating a dominant compressional wavefield by coating the surface with a layer of clear ice. This is achieved by exploiting a minimum in the attenuation spectrum of light in ice, which occurs at around 500 nm and renders the coating transparent to green laser radiation. Ice coatings could, therefore, provide a path for the development of more sensitive laser-based nondestructive testing methods that have traditionally been affected by the poor excitability of compressional waves, especially along the direction orthogonal to the surface.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/5.0194329