•Physical derivation of laser-stimulated arbitrary volumetric ultrasonic source.•Uniting pressure (normal and lateral) with thermal expansion generation mechanisms.•Waveform modeling based on ...statistically enhanced Green’s function formalism.•Spatial and directional distributions of source and sensor are incorporated.•Source enlargement reveals limit-to-limit transition of displacement waveforms.
Ultrasound modeling, being an established practice, is used to study the fundamentals of light-matter interactions. Although much has been published on the matter, pressure and thermal expansion induction mechanisms in laser ultrasonics have rarely been combined, as they should, in a single ultrasonic source while the effects of its size variation have only been shown to a limited extent. In the paper, we unite these light-matter interaction mechanisms, with inclusion of lateral optical forces, into a single laser-stimulated source as it is observed in nature. With a laser pulse as a manipulable source, we simulate the multifaceted workings of light-matter interactions by exposing the distinct transients originating from different source localities as generated by different induction mechanisms. We also present a transition of simulated ultrasonic waveforms in the epicentral point on the surface of a solid plate opposite from the source while it is expanded from a point to a quasi-limitless extent for pressure and thermal expansion generation regimes. The model utilizes geometric probability theory together with Huygens’ superposition principle and temporal convolutions to construct the desired waveforms out of individual Green’s functions. We show how the ultrasound generation regimes stem out of a single source and how its size together with energy and momentum transfers during the light-matter interactions affect the induced ultrasonic transients.
•Modeling using Green’s function formalism and streamlined Huygens’ principle.•The model incorporates spatial distributions of source and sensor sensitivity.•A statistically simplified area-to-area ...ultrasound transfer function was developed.•Uniform, Gaussian and annular source ultrasonic waveforms are simulated.•Thus-simulated waveforms match the measurements more closely than the point model.
The near-field, surface-displacement waveforms in plates are modeled using interwoven concepts of Green’s function formalism and streamlined Huygens’ principle. Green’s functions resemble the building blocks of the sought displacement waveform, superimposed and weighted according to the simplified distribution. The approach incorporates an arbitrary circular spatial source distribution and an arbitrary circular spatial sensitivity in the area probed by the sensor. The displacement histories for uniform, Gaussian and annular normal-force source distributions and the uniform spatial sensor sensitivity are calculated, and the corresponding weight distributions are compared. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed scheme, measurements of laser ultrasound induced solely by the radiation pressure are compared with the calculated waveforms. The ultrasound is induced by laser pulse reflection from the mirror-surface of a glass plate. The measurements show excellent agreement not only with respect to various wave-arrivals but also in the shape of each arrival. Their shape depends on the beam profile of the excitation laser pulse and its corresponding spatial normal-force distribution.
We report on the successful realization of a contactless, non-perturbing, displacement-measuring system for characterizing the surface roughness of polymer materials used in tribological ...applications. A single, time-dependent, scalar value, dubbed the collective micro-asperity deformation, is extracted from the normal-displacement measurements of normally loaded polymer samples. The displacement measurements with a sub-nanometer resolution are obtained with a homodyne quadrature laser interferometer. The measured collective micro-asperity deformation is critical for a determination of the real contact area and thus for the realistic contact conditions in tribological applications. The designed measuring system senses both the bulk creep as well as the micro-asperity creep occurring at the roughness peaks. The final results of our experimental measurements are three time-dependent values of the collective micro-asperity deformation for the three selected surface roughnesses. These values can be directly compared to theoretical deformation curves, which can be derived using existing real-contact-area models.
Optodynamic interaction between a laser pulse and the surface of an opaque, solid elastic object produces transient waves that propagate and reverberate within the object. They can be, in general, ...categorized into three distinctive types which are all formed through different mechanisms: ablation-induced waves, light-pressure-induced waves, and thermoelastic waves. In this paper, out-of-plane displacements of such waves are simulated at the epicentral position on the opposite side of an extended plane-parallel elastic plate. Wave propagation is mathematically described by Green’s transfer functions convolved with suitable time profiles of the incoming laser pulses. The simulated size of the circularly symmetric laser-illuminated area on the plate surface is varied to show the limit-to-limit transition of the displacement waveforms: from a 2D point source to an infinite 1D source.
We developed a method that accurately determines an unknown position of the high-intensity laser-pulse-material interaction site on the front side of a plate. It is based on interferometric ...measurements of a normal displacement at known positions on the plate’s rear side. The displacement is caused by reflections of various pulsed-laser-induced mechanical waves. We have superseded the long-established time-of-flight approach with the improved, triple-echo method. To accurately locate the origin of the laser-induced ultrasound on the plate with a known thickness, we only need to detect the arrivals of the first three consecutive mode unconverted waves. Our method works without knowing the propagation velocities of various ultrasonic waves and additionally solves some time-related drawbacks of the conventional time-of-flight approach. The relative uncertainty of the measured source-receiver separations obtained with the presented method is less than 0.01.
Nowadays, about 250 million people worldwide are moderately or severely visually impaired. About 43% of those who suffer from vision loss that interferes with daily activities have refractive errors ...and 33% suffer from cataracts. Some 80% of cases are preventable or treatable, often using lasers. Refraction-correcting eye laser procedures as well as photoionization-based therapeutic laser eye surgery such as iridotomy, capsulotomy and vitreolysis have become standard methods of treatment. Although it is commonly believed that such laser medical procedures have negligible side effects, our recent research on shock waves that accompany these medical applications of lasers 1 has put the general conviction of minimal invasiveness under question.
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