A comparison of laser ultrasound measurements and finite element simulations for evaluating the elastic properties of tissue mimicking phantoms

Advances in the field of laser ultrasonics have opened up new possibilities in medical applications. This paper presents a finite element modelling technique, which studies laser generated surface acoustic waves in different concentration of soft tissue mimicking agar-agar phantoms. In addition, we propose a novel approach that utilises a low coherence interferometer to detect the laser-induced surface acoustic waves from the tissue mimicking phantoms. A Nd:YAG focused laser line-source is applied to the agar-agar phantoms, which as the same with the FE simulation. The generated SAW signals are detected by a time domain low coherence interferometry system. SAW phase velocity dispersion curves from both of the FE simulation and experiment are calculated. By comparison, we show that the experimental results agree well with those of the FE simulation and theoretical expectations. This study is the first report that a laser-generated SAW phase velocity dispersion technique is applied to soft materials. This technique may open a way for laser ultrasonics to detect the mechanical properties of soft tissues, such as skin.     

Measurement of material nonlinearity using surface acoustic wave parametric interaction and laser ultrasonics

A dual frequency mixing technique has been developed for measuring velocity changes caused by material nonlinearity. The technique is based on the parametric interaction between two surface acoustic waves (SAWs): The low frequency pump SAW generated by a transducer and the high frequency probe SAW generated and detected using laser ultrasonics. The pump SAW stresses the material under the probe SAW. The stress (typically <5 MPa) is controlled by varying the timing between the pump and probe waves. The nonlinear interaction is measured as a phase modulation of the probe SAW and equated to a velocity change. The velocity-stress relationship is used as a measure of material nonlinearity. Experiments were conducted to observe the pump-probe interaction by changing the pump frequency and compare the nonlinear response of aluminum and fused silica. Experiments showed these two materials had opposite nonlinear responses, consistent with previously published data. The technique could be applied to life-time predictions of engineered components by measuring changes in nonlinear response caused by fatigue.     

Effect of melting on the excitation of surface acoustic wave pulses by UV nanosecond laser pulses in silicon

The influence of melting on the excitation of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) pulses in silicon is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The developed theory of Rayleigh-type SAW laser-induced thermoelastic excitation in a structure composed of a liquid layer on a solid substrate predicts that the SAW is predominantly generated in the solid phase due to the absence of shear rigidity in a liquid. The characteristic changes in the SAW pulse shape as well as the saturation and even the decrease of the SAW pulse amplitude observed above the melting threshold are explained theoretically to be a result of the decrease of the heat flux into the solid phase as well as due to the decrease of the volume of the solid phase caused by melting. Although the heat flux into the solid phase is decreased both as a consequence of the reflectivity increase and the additional energy losses (latent heat of melting) at the phase transition, it is demonstrated that the influence of reflectivity changes on the SAW pulse is negligible in comparison with the effect of melt-front motion. For laser pulses of 7 ns duration at 355 nm, the threshold value of laser fluence for meltingF _m=0.23±0.04 J/cm² and for the ablationF _a=1.3±0.2 J/cm² were determined experimentally as the points of characteristic changes in the observed SAW pulses.     

固体中脉冲激光激发声表面波的理论研究

本文运用本征函数展开的方法对固体材料中脉冲激光激发的声表面波进行了理论研究，在考虑热弹激发的条件下，利用三维的轴对称模型，得到了脉冲激光光源的脉冲宽度以及聚焦半径对固体材料中声表面波信号的时域及频域的影响，对进行超短脉冲激光激发超声的研究具有指导意义。     

Broadband phase-coherent optical frequency synthesis with actively linked Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite femtosecond lasers

We link the output spectra of a Ti:sapphire and a Cr:forsterite femtosecond laser phase coherently to form a continuous frequency comb with a wavelength coverage of 0.57-1.45 microm at power levels of 1 nW to 40 microW per frequency mode. To achieve this, the laser repetition rates and the carrier-envelope offset frequencies are phase locked to each other. The coherence time between the individual components of the two combs is 40 micros. The timing jitter between the lasers is 20 fs. The combined frequency comb is self-referenced for access to its overall offset frequency. We report the first demonstration to our knowledge of an extremely broadband and continuous, high-powered and phase-coherent frequency comb from two femtosecond lasers with different gain media.     

双通道原子相干性转移效率与拉曼单光子失谐的关系研究

研究了原子相干性在双通道间的转移效率与拉曼单光子失谐的关系。在冷原子四能级Tripod型系统中,首先利用EIT动力学过程将光信号存储在原子的一个记忆通道上。然后通过拉曼双光子过程,我们进行了原子记忆在两个通道间相干转移的研究,结果表明,在一定的拉曼光强下,原子相干性在双通道间的转移效率随着拉曼单光子失谐发生变化,最大的转移效率可达到94%。     

斐索光纤干涉仪在超声检测中的应用

针对激光超声中固体表面波的传播特性,研究了一套斐索光纤干涉仪系统并实现了对YAG激发的铝材料表面波的检测.该光纤干涉仪基于共光路干涉原理,消除了其他表面波检测手段的诸多弊端,具有环境要求低、结构简单、易于调节、频响高且为非接触式测量等优点,实验表明该干涉仪适合于激光超声检测.     

用于干涉测量的短相干固体激光器光谱纵模特性

对固体激光器的光谱纵模特性与复相干度的关系进行了理论分析,推导出了在任意纵模数下的光程差与复相干度的关系式。通过比较窄谱宽激光器与谱宽较宽的测量用普通固体激光器在不同纵模数下的复相干度特性,发现固体激光器谱宽较宽,复相干度衰减较快,不同纵模数下的衰减速度和周期不同,纵模数越多复相干度震荡衰减越快,不会出现周期性的高相干区域。根据理论分析搭建了一台用于干涉测量的短相干多纵模固体激光器,并对其光谱纵模特性和相干长度进行了测量,实验结果与计算结果一致。     

Investigation of titanium nitride coating by broadband laser ultrasonic spectroscopy

We present a laser ultrasonic method to investigate a titanium nitride(TiN) coating specimen.The technique is based on the principle of surface acoustic wave (SAW) dispersion during acoustic propagation on a half-space with the presence of a thin layer.Due to the high efficiency of laser line-source excitation,we have been able to generate and detect a SAW with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio in a wide frequency band.An inverse fitting algorithm was employed to extract simultaneously the thickness and the elastic parameters of the TiN coating from the experimental SAW velocity dispersion curve.     

Investigation of the phase velocities of guided acoustic waves in soft porous layers

A new experimental method for measuring the phase velocities of guided acoustic waves in soft poroelastic or poroviscoelastic plates is proposed. The method is based on the generation of standing waves in the material and on the spatial Fourier transform of the displacement profile of the upper surface. The plate is glued on a rigid substrate so that it has a free upper surface and a nonmoving lower surface. The displacement is measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer along a line corresponding to the direction of propagation of plane surface waves. A continuous sine with varying frequencies was chosen as excitation signal to maximize the precision of the measurements. The spatial Fourier transform provides the wave numbers, and the phase velocities are obtained from the relationship between wave number and frequency. The phase velocities of several guided modes could be measured in a highly porous foam saturated by air. The modes were also studied theoretically and, from the theoretical results, the experimental results, and a fitting procedure, it was possible to determine the frequency behavior of the complex shear modulus and of the complex Poisson ratio from 200 Hz to 1.4 kHz, in a frequency range higher than the traditional methods.     

Quantitative elastography provided by surface acoustic waves measured by phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography

We report on a quantitative elastography technique achieved by combining phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PhS-OCT) with the surface acoustic wave (SAW) method. Different from traditional optical coherence elastography, the elastography is achieved by impulse-stimulated SAW, rather than by shear waves. PhS-OCT serves not only as a detector to measure SAW signals but also as a means to provide a cross-sectional image of the sample. The experimental results indicate that the combination of PhS-OCT with SAW is feasible to provide quantitative elastography of heterogeneous tissue samples.     

Determination of crystallographic orientation of large grain metals with surface acoustic waves

A previously described laser ultrasonic technique known as spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy (SRAS) can be used to image surface microstructure, using the local surface acoustic wave (SAW) velocity as a contrast mechanism. It is shown here that measuring the SAW velocity in multiple directions can be used to determine the crystallographic orientation of grains. The orientations are determined by fitting experimentally measured velocities to theoretical velocities. Using this technique the orientations of 12 nickel and 3 aluminum single crystal samples have been measured, and these are compared with x-ray Laue backreflection (LBR) measurements with good agreement. The root mean square difference between SRAS and LBR measurements in terms of an R-value is less than 4.1°. The influence of systematic errors in the SAW velocity determination due to instrument miscalibration, which affects the accurate determination of the planes, is discussed. SRAS has great potential for complementary measurements or even for replacing established orientation determination and imaging techniques.     

Efficient intensity modulation due to surface acoustic waves on windows of the AlGaN/InGaN multiple quantum well laser

An alternative method for modulation of light generated by AlGaN/InGaN multiple quantum well laser with quartz antireflective (AR) coatings covering the resonator windows was modelled and studied theoretically. Disturbance of the piezoelectric coatings caused by surface acoustic waves (SAW) results in efficient intensity modulation of the laser beam. The model for the laser diode operating at DC demonstrates that the modulation factor can exceed 0.2 in sub-nanometer SAW displacement. For quarter-wave AR films, the carrier frequency of modulated beam has twice the frequency of SAW.     

Stabilization of femtosecond laser frequency combs with subhertz residual linewidths

We demonstrate that femtosecond laser frequency combs (FLFCs) can have a subhertz linewidth across their entire emission spectra when they are phase locked to a reference laser with a similarly narrow linewidth. Correspondingly, the coherence time of the comb components relative to the reference laser can be of the order of a few seconds. Thus we are able to detect high-contrast spectral interferograms at up to 10-s integration time between two FLFCs locked to a common optical reference.     

Sideband generation using strongly driven raman coherence in solid hydrogen

Parametric Raman sideband generation is investigated using strongly driven Raman coherence in solid hydrogen. We show that the Raman coherence prepared with two coaxial single-mode lasers beats with multimode laser radiation with very broad bandwidth and efficiently replicates the broadband nature to the Raman sidebands without the restriction of phase matching. We demonstrate that this efficient replication occurs mainly on the negative side of Raman detuning, where the medium adiabatically follows the antiphased state.     

Propagation of partially coherent partially phase-locked laser array in turbulent atmosphere

The mechanism for beam quality degradation in recently developed phase locking of high power solid state lasers, which is caused mainly by partially coherent property of element beam and partially phase locking of the laser array, is analyzed in detail. Analytical expression for propagation of partially coherent partially phase-locked laser array in turbulent atmosphere is obtained based on extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. The effect of coherence width, phase error and intensity of turbulence on the beam quality in the target-plane is studied in detail. The tolerance on phase error for laser array with different coherence property is analyzed. It is concluded that the laser array with better coherence is more sensitive to turbulence, and phase control can improve beam quality in the receiving plane only in the case when the element beam has good beam quality and propagates in weak turbulence.     

Simple high-coherence rapidly tunable external-cavity diode laser

We describe a simple electro-optically activated external-cavity diode laser designed to provide high-speed, high-coherence tuning over gigahertz frequency ranges. Tuning as fast as 23 GHz/ micros is demonstrated. Coherence measurements indicate transform-limited quiescent laser linewidth in observation windows as wide as ~100 micros and transform-limited chirps. A self-heterodyne, cross-correlation-based coherence diagnostic is developed for characterizing phase coherence during high-speed chirps.     

Localization of sound in rooms. V. Binaural coherence and human sensitivity to interaural time differences in noise

Binaural recordings of noise in rooms were used to determine the relationship between binaural coherence and the effectiveness of the interaural time difference (ITD) as a cue for human sound localization. Experiments showed a strong, monotonic relationship between the coherence and a listener's ability to discriminate values of ITD. The relationship was found to be independent of other, widely varying acoustical properties of the rooms. However, the relationship varied dramatically with noise band center frequency. The ability to discriminate small ITD changes was greatest for a mid-frequency band. To achieve sensitivity comparable to mid-band, the binaural coherence had to be much larger at high frequency, where waveform ITD cues are imperceptible, and also at low frequency, where the binaural coherence in a room is necessarily large. Rivalry experiments with opposing interaural level differences (ILDs) found that the trading ratio between ITD and ILD increasingly favored the ILD as coherence decreased, suggesting that the perceptual weight of the ITD is decreased by increased reflections in rooms.     

Phase correlation of laser waves with arbitrary frequency spacing

The theoretically predicted correlation of laser phase fluctuations in Lambda-type interaction schemes is experimentally demonstrated. We show that the mechanism of correlation in a Lambda scheme is restricted to high-frequency noise components, whereas in a double-Lambda scheme, due to the laser phase locking in a closed-loop interaction, it extends to all noise frequencies. In this case the correlation is weakly sensitive to coherence losses. Thus the double-Lambda scheme can be used to correlate electromagnetic fields with carrier frequency differences beyond the GHz regime.     

High-order optical harmonic generation from solid surfaces

During the interaction of an intense ultrashort laser pulse with solid targets, a thin layer of surface plasma is generated in which the density drops to the vacuum level in a distance much shorter than the wavelength. This sharp plasma-vacuum boundary performs an oscillatory motion in response to the electromagnetic forces of the intense laser light. It is shown that the generation of reflected harmonics can be interpreted as a phase modulation experienced by the light upon reflection from the oscillating boundary. The modulation side-bands of the reflected frequency spectrum correspond to odd and even harmonics of the laser frequency. Retardation effects lead to a strong anharmonicity for high velocities of the plasma-vacuum boundary. As a result, harmonic generation is strongly enhanced in the relativistic regime of laser intensities.Prof. F. P. Schäfer on the occasion of his 65th birthday.