Relaxation dynamics of a broadband nanosecond acoustic pulse in a bubbly medium

The first experimental observation of the propagation dynamics of a short broadband acoustic pulse in a resonance medium with gas bubbles is carried out. The probing pulse is generated using the optoacoustic effect. It is shown that the theory of short pulse propagation in media with generalized resonance relaxation adequately and accurately describes the dynamics of short pulse dispersion. A possibility to determine the relaxation and resonance parameters of media by the pulsed testing technique is demonstrated.     

Focused array transducer for two-dimensional optoacoustic tomography

Optoacoustic (OA) imaging utilizes short laser pulses to create acoustic sources in tissue and time resolved detection of generated pressure profiles for image reconstruction. The ultrasonic transients provide information on the distribution of optical absorption coefficient that can be useful for early cancer diagnostics. In this work a new design of wide-band array transducer is developed and tested. The array consists of 32 focused piezo-elements made of PVDF slabs imposed on a cylindrical surface. A single array element response to an OA signal coming from arbitrarily located point source is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The measured signals correspond well to numerically calculated ones. Focal zone maps of the elements with aperture angles 30 degrees and 60 degrees are presented and discussed; the resolution in direction perpendicular to the imaging plane is determined. Point spread function of the whole array is calculated using experimentally obtained signals from the sources located at different distances from the array. Backprojection algorithm is employed for reconstruction of the optoacoustic images. It is shown that the spatial resolution of the images yielded by the proposed array increases significantly compared to previous transducer designs.     

Nonlinear optoacoustic transformation in the system of dielectric substrate/submicron metal coating/liquid

The optoacoustic method has been shown to be an accurate technique for the measurement of the properties of submicron metal coatings deposited on a dielectric substrate, i.e., mirrors. The method has been previously theoretically described in terms of a linear model of optoacoustic transformation in a system substrate/coating/liquid. The goal of the present work was to determine the limits at which the linear model is still applicable. The modification of the laser induced acoustic signal profiles and transfer functions of optoacoustic transformation versus the laser fluence was studied for two liquids: ethanol and water.     

Laser optoacoustic measurement of paper porosity

The propagation of broadband ultrasonic pulses in combined media that consist of printing paper of different porosity saturated with different liquids is studied. The experiments are performed with three types of paper, namely, Zoom Ultra (Stora Enso, Finland) with surface densities of 80 and 100 g/m² and Data Copy (Mo Do, Sweden) with a surface density of 160 g/cm², and with two types of saturating liquids: ethanol and transformer oil. To excite ultrasonic pulses and to detect them with a high time resolution, the laser optoacoustic spectroscopy method is used. For each type of liquid-saturated paper, the phase velocity of ultrasound is measured in the frequency range of 5–35 MHz. The absence of any noticeable frequency dispersion of the phase velocity is revealed. The possibility of measuring the porosity of printing paper on the basis of the theoretical model of a two-phase medium with the use of the corresponding experimental data is demonstrated.     

Direct measurement of the spatial distribution of light intensity in a scattering medium

A direct nonperturbative measurement of the spatial distribution of the light intensity in a strongly scattering medium is performed using an optoacoustic method. It is shown that near a surface the intensity can be five times greater than the incident intensity, and the absolute maximum of the intensity is observed at a depth ℓ(1–R)(1–4.0R) determined by the photon transport mean free path ℓ and the effective light reflection coefficient R of the boundary separating the scattering and external media. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 3, 187–191 (10 August 1999)     

Interference of opposing longitudinal acoustic waves in an isotropic absorbing plate and a periodic structure with defects

Interference of longitudinal acoustic waves propagating in opposite directions in a homogeneous isotropic absorbing plate and a periodic structure with a defect is considered theoretically. The periodic structure consists of alternating absorbing solid and transparent liquid layers. The defect is modeled by replacing a solid layer by a liquid layer of the same thickness. The dependences of the transmission spectrum of the energy flux on the amplitude ratio and phase difference of the interacting waves are studied. It is shown that, by varying the parameters of the opposite pressure wave, it is possible to change the transmission spectrum of the direct wave in a wide frequency range. An expression is obtained to determine the extremums of the wave amplitude transmitted through an absorbing plate depending on the amplitude ratio of the interacting waves. The results of studying a one-dimensional periodic structure demonstrate the possibility to considerably change the transmission spectrum of the pressure wave leaving the structure and also to eliminate the invariance of this spectrum under the interchange of the kth and (n?k+1)th layers (where n is the total number of layers in the structure).     

Nondestructive Evaluation of Graphite-Epoxy Composites by the Laser Ultrasonic Method

A laser ultrasonic method for nondestructive evaluation of the structure of composite materials is proposed. Specimens of graphite-epoxy composites with compaction-type defects and air cavities are investigated. The method is based on the laser thermooptical generation of wide-band acoustic pulses - optoacoustic (OA) signals - in the material investigated. The acoustic pulses backscattered by structural ingomogeneities and defects are registered by a wide-band piezotransducer, which makes it possible to detect acoustic pulses in the frequency range from 0.1 to 30 MHz. Since the generation and detection of acoustic pulses takes place on the front surface of the specimen, this method allows us to carry out nondestructive evaluation with one-sided access to the object under study. The spectral and correlation analyses of backscattered OA signals are used for mathematical processing of the experimental data. The method developed makes it possible to determine the type of defects and the depth of their location.     

Wideband focused film transducer for optoacoustic tomography

The response of a focused film transducer to wideband acoustic signals is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The transducer has the form of a narrow PVDF strip placed on a concave cylindrical surface. A software package is developed for calculating the impulse transient response functions depending on the position of the point source of spherical waves. The experiments are performed using laser thermooptical sources of acoustic spherical wave pulses excited by a pulsed diode-pumped Nd: YAG laser. The theoretical and measured temporal profiles of signals recorded by the transducer are shown to be in good agreement for the source positioned near the transducer’s focus. For this region, a transducer sensitivity map is investigated. For the case of the source positioned at the focus of the transducer, the absolute value of the transducer sensitivity is 8 µV/Pa.     

Lateral spatial resolution of widened focused transducer array for optoacoustic tomography

Numerical investigation of a point spread function for a optoacoustic transducer array is described. Analysis of the minimal reconstructed dimension for an optoacoustic image of a point source of spherical waves is performed within the proposed approach. The influence of the array geometrical parameters, number of array transducers, and the frequency band of a single transducer on the lateral resolution in the image plane is investigated in detail. It is demonstrated that the lateral resolution obtained with the help of a transducer array in the image plane is determined unambiguously by the frequency band of a transducer, the flare angle of the array, and the transducer width and does not depend on the number of transducers.     

Optoacoustic technique for thickness measurement of submicron metal coatings

The new nondestructive method for thickness measurement of submicron metal coatings on transparent substrate is developed. The method is based on the optoacoustic (OA) transformation in the system, where the coating is covered by an optically transparent liquid. Theoretical treatment of the problem consists of two steps. At the first step laser-induced thermal field in the system is calculated, taking into account the large thermal conductivity of the metal film and partial heat diffusion into the liquid. At the second step the system of wave equations for scalar potential of vibration velocities is solved. Heat sources, determined at the first step, are free form of wave equations. Three chrome coatings of different thickness (approximately 0.2, 0.3, and 0.6 μm) deposited on the quartz substrate are tested experimentally. Two different organic liquids (acetone and ethanol) are used to cover chrome coatings. Nanosecond diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser operated at the main harmonic is used to perform OA transformation (laser pulse duration is τ _L = 12 ns, the laser energy is about 0.2 mJ). Two detection modes are used. In forward mode laser pulse irradiates the film from the side of the substrate and in backward mode—from the side of the liquid. Detection of induced ultrasonic pulses is performed by the wide-band piezoelectric transducer in the liquid in both cases. The thickness of the coatings is determined by the least squares fitting of the theoretical dependencies of spectral transfer functions of OA transformation to experimental data. It is demonstrated, that the developed technique can be used for measurement of metal coatings thickness within the range from 50 nm to 5 μm with the error about 50 nm.