Efficiency of optical-to-acoustic energy conversion upon the interaction of a pulsed laser radiation with a liquid: I. Calculation of the efficiency upon acoustooptic interaction

Relationships for the efficiency of conversion of laser radiation energy to acoustic energy for the acoustooptic (thermal) mechanism of interaction are derived. The cases of short and long laser pulses interacting with the rigid and free boundaries of a heavily absorbing liquid are considered. The efficiency is numerically calculated for the situation when the radiation of a transverse-excitation atmospheric (TEA) CO₂ laser interacts with water with regard for the temperature variation of the volume thermal expansion coefficient of the latter.