A novel differential optical beam deflection detection system for measuring laser-generated surface acoustic waves

Abstract

As the application of the laser ultrasonics developed rapidly, there is especial call for more sensitive and convenient optical installation to detect the ultrasonic waves induced by pulsed laser. The optical beam deflection (OBD) methods have abstracted the interest of people for many years for their merits over the interference method. In this paper a novel differential OBD detection system for measuring laser-generated surface acoustic waves (SAW) is presented. The detection principle of this optical system is discussed in detail according to the scheme. And we get the linear relation between the physical parameter of the SAW and the output of the detection system. For confirm the conclusion the Monte Carlo computation method is utilized to simulate the ray propagation in the system, adding the consideration of the light spot distribution of the detection laser. The numerical result agrees with the analytic method. The linear relation between the detection system output current and the deflection angle induced by SAW is validated. Furthermore, the sensitivity and the spatial resolution of the system proposed are also calculated for comparing with the other OBD methods. The results show that this differential optical beam deflection detection system is more sensitive to the small disturbance and has higher space resolution. It has considerable potential in ultrasonic measurement.