Photopyroelectric thermal-wave tomography of aluminum with ray-optic reconstruction

Abstract
A capacitive photopyroelectric tomographic technique for obtaining spatial and depth-resolved photothermal scanning images of opaque solid samples is reported. Unlike the two-dimensional projection images obtained by conventional photothermal detection methods, tomographic reconstruction for depth-resolved imaging of subsurface defects is demonstrated to be possible with the assumption of raylike propagation of thermal waves.