Rapid measurement of surface acoustic wave velocity on single crystals using an all-optical adaptive scanning acoustic microscope

Abstract

An experimental method has been developed to measure the phase velocity of laser-generated and detected surface acoustic waves. An optical grating produced by a spatial light modulator was imaged onto the sample surface to generate the ultrasound whose frequency and wave front were controlled electrically by tailoring the grating. When the grating period matched the surface acoustic wavelength, strong excition of the surface wave was observed. Thus, the wavelength and, thereby, the phase velocity were determined. We present results with this method that allow the phase velocity and the angular dispersion of the generalized surface wave as well as the pseudosurface wave on the (100) nickel and (111) silicon single crystals to be measured, with the precision of approximately 0.2%. Those factors affecting the measurement precision are discussed.