LASER-INDUCED MICROWAVE SOUND BY SURFACE HEATING

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Abstract
Microwave sound of discrete frequencies has been generated by the irradiation of a solid with the uniformly spaced, ultrashort optical pulses produced by a mode‐locked Nd:glass laser. The sound, rich in harmonic content, has its fundamental frequency fixed by the repetition frequency of the laser pulses. Believed to be thermally generated in the optical skin depth where the energy is absorbed, the sound has been detected at room temperature up to 2 GHz, the tenth harmonic of the fundamental repetition frequency. Such high harmonic content indicates that the acoustic pulses have rise times significantly less than 1 nsec and demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing ultrashort laser pulses to produce ultrashort acoustic pulses.

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