Materials Science
Optoacoustics is also widely used to study the acoustic properties of materials. A recent example of application of laser-based surface acoustic waves is the determination of elastic moduli of dense polycrystalline oxygen bearing η-Ta2N3, a novel hard and tough high-pressure material. Several recently emerged additional applications of picosecond laser ultrasonics at ambient conditions can be cited. The relaxation of coherent acoustic phonon modes with frequencies up to 500GHz in ultrathin free-standing silicon membranes was studied by optoacoustics. Complete mechanical measurements of submicron films were performed using the picosecond ultrasonic technique. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of any isotropic thin film can be obtained from these type of measurements. Three-dimensional acoustic wave front imaging in anisotropic systems by picosecond acoustics was presented. Such experiment allows the determination of the whole set of elastic constants for various experimental conditions. The picosecond photo-acoustics was applied to study amorphous solids.
Andreas Zerr, Nikolay Chigarev, Ovidiu Brinza, Sergey M. Nikitin, Alexey M. Lomonosov and Vitalyi Gusev.
Elastic moduli of η-Ta2N3, a tough self-healing material, via laser ultrasonics
physica status solidi (RRL) 6(12) 484 (2012)
J. Cuffe, O. Ristow, E. Chávez, A. Shchepetov, P-O. Chapuis, F. Alzina, M. Hettich, M. Prunnila, J. Ahopelto, T.
Dekorsy, and C. M. Sotomayor Torres. Lifetimes of Confined Acoustic Phonons in Ultrathin Silicon Membranes
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 095503 (2013)
P. A. Mante, J. F. Robillard and A. Devos. Complete thin film mechanical characterization using picosecond
ultrasonics and nanostructured transducers: experimental demonstration on SiO2
Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 071909 (2008)
Shuo Zhang, Emmanuel Péronne, Laurent Belliard, Serge Vincent and Bernard Perrin. Three-dimensional
acoustic wavefront imaging in anisotropic systems by picosecond acoustics
J. Appl. Phys. 109, 033507 (2011)
C. Ferrante, E. Pontecorvo, G. Cerullo, A. Chiasera, G. Ruocco, T. & W. Schirmacher Scopigno. Acoustic
dynamics of network-forming glasses at mesoscopic wavelengths
Nature Communications 4, 1793 (2013)