What is believed to be a new phenomenon - plasma-based thermally-induced optical reflection of sound (P-THORS) - overcomes the limitations of traditional THORS (e.g. need for line-of-sight, concentration dependence, and variations in efficiency at distance) by using a laser to generate a shaped plasma for the formation of highly-efficient, variable geometry, free-space acoustic reflector/barrier. These reflectors allow for the focusing and steering of acoustic waves without the need of a continuous barrier or engineered materials. This work demonstrates for the first time the generation of P-THORS barriers with highly efficient reflection efficiencies, exceeding those of traditional THORS barrier (i.e. > 70%) as well as the ability to transiently shape the barrier into various geometries to steer the acoustic wave to specific locations. P-THORS barriers are shown to reflect near 100% of incident ultrasonic signals and maintain that reflectivity for 5 ms post-plasma formation. Furthermore, by shaping the plasma it was possible to selectively direct the ultrasonic and/or acoustic waves to a desired location with efficiencies of 30% or greater, depending on the geometry of the shaped plasma.

Generation and analysis of frequency-dependent vortex electromagnetic wave steering based on stepped frequency and time delay

Aims. We investigate signatures of pressure extrema on global oscillations in discs. Methods. We used the framework of wave topology to establish a generalised local dispersion relation that includes pressure gradients. We highlight the influence of a previously unrecognised epicyclic–acoustic frequency, and we derive an analytical criterion for the existence of a branch of modes transiting between the inertial and the pressure bands, known as topological modes. Results. We find that pressure extrema consist of wave guides in which such topological modes propagate. The fundamental mode trapped at a pressure bump can propagate at any frequency, allowing it to resonate with any temporal forcing. Conversely, the fundamental mode associated with a pressure dip propagates at any vertical phase velocity. These specific features make them attractive candidates for future discoseismology.

Monolayer molybdenum disulfide (1L MoS 2 ) is a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor with a direct electronic bandgap of 1.88 eV and large nonlinear susceptibilities. Its second-order optical nonlinearity χ (2) leads to second-harmonic generation (SHG) and a Pockels electro-optic effect. Therefore, atomically thin 1L MoS 2 has been utilized in several on-chip integrated photonic devices. However, 1L MoS 2 must be sufficiently transparent under the wavelength of operation to be power efficient and not affect device performance. Previous literature reports 20 dB/cm to 43 dB/cm of excess propagation losses in silicon waveguides (WGs) covered with 1L MoS 2 , which is too high for most applications in the infrared spectrum. Here, we experimentally investigate the infrared propagation loss in 1L MoS 2 monolithically integrated on silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) WGs and racetrack resonators (RTRs). We use linear regression to determine the propagation losses via RTR resonances. The excess propagation losses in wet-transferred 1L MoS 2 on Si 3 N 4 WG encapsulated by polymethyl methacrylate are measured as less than 2 dB/cm from 1520 nm to 1620 nm. This was achieved with an evanescent field fraction of 0.03% in the 1L MoS 2 . We provide evidence that this upper boundary of the loss is not an intrinsic material property and is instead dominated by defects arising from transfer, i.e., further loss reductions via process optimization are possible.

Aboveground storage tanks are used to store various fluids and chemicals for many industrial purposes. According to API standard 653, the structural integrity of these tanks must be regularly assessed. The U.S. EPA requires each operator to have a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan (SPCC) for aboveground storage containers. The accepted practice for inspection of these tanks, particularly the tank bottoms, requires removing the tank from service, emptying the tank, and interior entry for direct inspection of the structure. The required inspection operations are hazardous due to the chemicals themselves as well as the requirement to operate within confined spaces. An inspection from outside the tank would have significant cost and time benefits and would provide a large reduction in the risks faced by inspection personnel. Guided wave (GW) testing is a promising candidate for screening of storage tank walls and bottoms from the tank exterior due to the ability of GWs to propagate over long distances from a fixed probe location. The lowest-order transverse-motion guided wave modes (e.g., torsional vibrations in pipes) are a good choice for long-range inspection because this mode is not dispersive; therefore, the wave packets do not spread out in time. A common weakness of guided wave inspection is the complexity of report generation in the presence of multiple geometry features in the structure, such as welds, welded plate corners, attachments and so on. In some cases, these features cause generation of non-relevant indications caused by mode conversion. Another significant challenge in applying GW testing is development of probes with high-enough signal amplitudes and relatively small footprints to allow them to be mounted on short tank bottom extensions. In this paper, a new generation of magnetostrictive transducers will be presented. The transducers are based on the reversed Wiedemann effect and can generate shear horizontal mode guided waves over a wide frequency range (20-150 kHz) with SNRs in excess of 50 dB. The recently developed SwRI MST 8 × 8 probe contains an array of eight pairs of individual magnetostrictive transducers (MsTs). The data acquisition hardware allows acquisition using Full Matrix Capture (FMC) and analysis software reporting of anomalies based on Total Focusing Method (TFM) image reconstruction. This novel inspection package allows generation of reports that map out corrosion locations and provide estimates of defect widths. Case studies of this technology on actual storage tank walls and bottoms will be presented together with validation of processing methods on mockups with known anomalies and geometry features.

Icing and environmental variations pose major challenges for structural health monitoring (SHM), as they can alter sensor responses in ways that resemble structural damage. Reliable damage identification therefore requires understanding how temperature, surface water, ice accretion, and operational loads influence SHM signals. This work investigates the environmental sensitivity of two SHM techniques, Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) and Guided Waves (GW), using piezoelectric transducers integrated on an aluminium plate and on a carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) rotor blade. In the first campaign, controlled static tests were carried out on an aluminium plate inside a climate chamber, with temperatures varied from 20 °C to –40 °C under dry and iced conditions. EMI measurements showed systematic temperature-dependent shifts of impedance magnitude and resonance frequencies, while ice introduced additional spectral features linked to changes in boundary conditions. GW results revealed strong amplitude attenuation with decreasing temperature and further reduction under ice, whereas time-of-flight remained largely unchanged. To extend the investigation to realistic operating conditions, GW measurements were performed on a CFRP rotor blade in a spinning climate chamber. These measurements were conducted as a secondary task within a larger icing campaign, requiring the SHM system to be adapted to existing constraints and resulting in increased noise. Despite this, two robust GW features, peak amplitude and total signal power, were extracted across several operating states including water impingement, rotation up to 750 rpm, dynamic icing, and static iced conditions. Both features showed consistent qualitative sensitivity to temperature, rotation, water, and ice accretion. Overall, the combined experiments demonstrate that EMI and GW signals are significantly influenced by environmental and operational conditions, often to an extent comparable to structural damage. These findings emphasize the need for environmental compensation strategies to ensure reliable EMI- and GW-based damage detection and localization on aerostructures, and provide a foundation for future studies involving controlled damage scenarios.

Guided wave (GW) is widely recognized as one of the most effective tools for structural health monitoring (SHM) due to their long-range propagation and high sensitivity to damage. However, the practical application of GW based SHM faces major challenges. environmental and operational conditions (EOCs), such as temperature and load, can cause variations in the amplitude and phase of GW signals. These variations may couple with damage induced changes, reducing the accuracy and reliability of conventional damage diagnosis methods. To overcome this challenge, this study proposed a GW feature signal extraction based damage imaging method under EOCs. Firstly, multiple GW features are extracted from each path, which collectively enhance the characterization of structural damage from multiple perspectives. Probabilistic modeling is then employed to suppress the effects of EOCs and constructed probabilistic GW feature signals, which are only sensitive to structural damage. By fusing the damage information of these signals through conventional damage imagining method, a reliable and accurate damage imaging can be achieved under EOCs. To validate the proposed method, experiments are conducted on a typical aircraft structure. The results demonstrate that, compare with the conventional method, the proposed approach improves the accuracy and reliability of damage imaging across a wide temperature range from −50℃ to 80℃.

This research paper presents a guided wave (GW)-driven framework for structural health monitoring of composite wind turbine blades, leveraging both experimental and numerical data in conjunction with a hybrid machine learning (ML) approach for accurate damage identification and classification. High-fidelity ultrasonic GW signals were collected under controlled laboratory conditions for pristine and damaged blade states, including erosion damage, longitudinal debonding, and transverse debonding. Finite element simulations, incorporating a tri-array of sensors, were further employed to enhance spatial resolution and replicate complex wave-damage interactions. All GW signals were converted into time–frequency representations using scalogram analysis, enabling rich feature encoding of frequency dispersion characteristics for each damage case. These scalogram images were used as input to a two-stage ML classifier based on transfer learning, which first performs binary damage detection, followed by multi-class classification of damage types. The proposed model achieved high classification accuracy across both synthetic and experimental datasets, with statistical confidence intervals confirming the robustness of predictions. This methodology demonstrates the viability of integrating physics-informed data with ML to enable automated, high-resolution health status monitoring of composite blades and supports its scalability for deployment in operational wind energy systems.

Wave breaking on coastal slopes drives critical nearshore processes, yet resolving its multiphase dynamics remains challenging due to interface smearing in numerical models and measurement limitations in aerated regions. This study investigates the hydrodynamics of two spilling breaker conditions on a 1:15 slope, with emphasis on propagation behavior, interface evolution, and spectral energy transfer. A comparative analysis of wave morphology between the geometric reconstruction-based IsoAdvector and the algebraic compression-based Multi-dimensional Universal Limiter for Explicit Solution (MULES) methods was conducted using numerical wave flumes, supported by synchronous high-resolution measurements of free surface elevation and flow fields via ultrasonic wave gauges and particle image velocimetry. The breaking process was categorized into four sequential phases: pre-breaking deformation, aerated surface layer formation, bubble-laden interface development, and fragmented free-surface stabilization. Comparative analysis revealed distinct methodological performances: IsoAdvector maintained a sharp interface (<2 cells thick) with low mesh sensitivity and achieved a higher refined index of agreement (dr) with experimental surface elevation, accurately capturing crest curvature, jet dynamics, and bubble formation. In contrast, MULES produces a diffuse interface (>2 cells thick) with mesh-dependent phase shift; however, it offered approximately 4.7 % higher computational efficiency in fine-mesh simulations. Accordingly, IsoAdvector is recommended for high-fidelity interface-resolved studies, while MULES is suitable for large-scale applications prioritizing computational economy. Spectral analysis further showed that increased wave height intensifies nonlinear interactions, resulting in earlier breaking, broader energy distribution, and enhanced dissipation. These findings provide key insight into nearshore wave transformation and guidance for selecting numerical approaches in breaking wave simulations.

Data-driven approaches have been applied to structural health assessment due to their capability to address complex challenges and achieve high-precision and rapid defect detection. This article presents a deep learning-based generalization framework for guided wave (GW)-based damage identification in diverse isotropic beam-like structures with various cross-sectional geometries and material properties. A multiscale convolution and squeeze-and-excitation attention-assisted bidirectional hybrid (MC-SE-BiH) network is proposed to generalize the damage identification. A higher-order beam model is employed to enhance computational efficiency and simulation accuracy of modelling GW propagation in various damage scenarios. A series of numerical case studies is carried out to demonstrate the generalization ability and robustness of the proposed MC-SE-BiH framework in damage identification using GW. The effectiveness and practicality are further validated using experimental measurements obtained from isotropic beams with different material properties and cross-sectional configurations. The results demonstrate that the proposed MC-SE-BiH framework can identify damage across diverse beam-like structures.

Organic–metal halide hybrids have advantageous luminous qualities and can be processed at low temperatures. These materials present a sustainable, cost-efficient, and effective solution for X-ray scintillators compared to all-inorganic scintillators. However, challenges, such as surface photon scattering and difficult uniformity control of the scintillator surface, continue to impede resolution improvement. In this study, we present a melt-quenching process to incorporate a zero-dimensional hybrid halide (MTP)2MnBr4 (methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide = MTPBr) into a microporous silicon substrate (3 × 3 cm). The (MTP)2MnBr4 glass embedded microporous silicon substrate scintillator screen achieves exceptional X-ray performance metrics by exploiting its outstanding luminescence properties, high optical transparency, and effective photon wave guidance via microporous arrays on screen surfaces. It delivers a high X-ray light yield of 16,840 photons/MeV, with a low detection limit of 135 nGy/s, and achieves an exceptional X-ray imaging spatial resolution of 25 lp/mm. Furthermore, the (MTP)2MnBr4 single crystal grown via low-temperature evaporation shows remarkable retention of radioluminescence intensity and an exceptional light yield of 60,790 photons/MeV. This approach combines low toxicity, ease of processing, scalability, low detection limit, significant light yield, and high spatial resolution, making it suitable for widespread adoption in various X-ray applications.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is critical for ensuring the long-term, high-reliability service of aircraft structures and systems. Accurate damage localization is a key aspect of SHM technique development. Guided wave (GW) and electromechanical impedance (EMI) are two widely used SHM techniques. GW is effective for large-area damage detection, while EMI offers high damage monitoring sensitivity near sensors. However, both traditional GW and EMI methods suffer from regions of reduced damage monitoring sensitivity, which may result in regions of low detectability and undermine reliable damage detection. Missed detections may allow minor damage to grow rapidly, potentially leading to catastrophic structural failure. To address this issue, this paper proposes a subregion fusion strategy that leverages the complementary strengths of GW and EMI. The monitoring area is divided into near and far subregions based on the damage monitoring sensitivity range of the EMI damage index. In the near subregion, GW and EMI probabilistic imaging results are fused to eliminate regions of low detectability. In the far subregion, GW probabilistic imaging is enhanced using a distribution coefficient derived from the EMI damage index. Experiments on aluminum and composite plates show that the newly proposed fusion method reduces average localization errors by 32% and 39% compared to traditional GW probabilistic imaging, and by 53% and 54% compared to EMI probabilistic imaging, respectively. These results demonstrate that the proposed fusion strategy effectively eliminates regions of low detectability and improves damage localization accuracy across the entire monitoring area. With its strong extendibility and potential for continuous improvement, the proposed subregion fusion imaging method is expected to serve as a valuable tool for long-term structural integrity assurance in complex and mission-critical systems, including thin-walled aerospace components such as reusable spacecraft, rocket fuel tanks, and engine shells, as well as thin-walled civil and industrial structures such as pressure vessels, large oil and chemical storage tanks, and thin-walled steel structural elements.

ABSTRACT This letter presents a high‐ Q tunable waveguide (WG) filter with constant absolute bandwidth (CABW). By adjusting the penetration depth of a single dielectric tuning element into the filter, frequency tuning is readily obtained without a complicated mechanism. Modified cavity perturbation theory (CPT) is adopted for the first time to deduce the quantitative relationship between the penetration depth and resonant frequency. At the same time, the tuning element also plays a vital role in realising innovative inter‐resonator (IR) coupling and input‐output (IO) coupling structures, combined with the configuration of double septa to ensure the CABW and IO port impedance matching. Finally, to validate the proposed concept, a prototype of a fifth‐order inline tunable WG filter is implemented, which has a tuning range of 8% from 18.2 to 19.7 GHz and the 1‐dB bandwidth variation is maintained within 315 ± 15 MHz. Measured results match the simulated ones very well, which show that the insertion losses are less than 0.6 dB and the return losses are better than 20 dB for all tuned passbands. The high performance of the proposed tunable WG filter makes it very suitable for the applications of 5G/6G millimetre‐wave backhaul or satellite telecommunication.

This article aims to identify the key parameters controlling optical propagation losses in PECVD SiN waveguides (WG) at telecom wavelengths and to provide guidance for achieving ultra-low-loss photonic platforms, both with and without thermal-budget constraints. To this end, the contribution of bulk material loss to the total propagation loss is evaluated by systematically comparing experimental loss measurements with surface-scattering losses predicted by the Payne and Lacey model, which incorporates robust experimental measurements of the roughness parameters (unbiased roughness amplitude and correlation length). Several parameters are investigated: the physico-chemical properties of the PECVD SiN (more or less Si-rich) and of the SiO <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> capping, the sidewalls roughness parameters of the patterned SiN WGs and the impact of an annealing process on the materials properties and consequently on the optical losses. The SiN patterning uses state-of-the art 300mm tools and results in low roughness parameters (LER=2.1nm and correlation length of 78nm) enabling the lowest reported losses at 1.31 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{\mu }$</tex-math></inline-formula> m for PECVD SiN (0.34dB/cm). However, the Payne and Lacey model predicts that reducing the correlation length down to 30nm while keeping low roughness amplitude would offer the possibility to reach sub-0.2 -0.1dB/cm loss if all material loss are suppressed. At 1.55 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{\mu }$</tex-math></inline-formula>m, the PECVD SiN used in this work contain too many absorbing centers (NH, SiH) to achieve sub 1dB/cm losses. Annealing PECVD SiN at 1100°C allows the removal of SiH and NH absorption sites, thus enabling ultra-low losses of 0.18–0.24 dB/cm at 1.31 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{\mu }$</tex-math></inline-formula>m. However, the annealing introduces also some new defects (Si-Si nanoclusters for Si-rich SiN and N dangling bonds for N-rich SiN) that introduces some unwanted loss at 1.55 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{\mu }$</tex-math></inline-formula>m.

Controlling the propagation of surface Rayleigh waves along complex geometries is essential for advanced engineering applications, including seismic wave mitigation, ultrasonic nondestructive testing, and surface acoustic wave technologies. However, energy leakage and scattering remain significant obstacles for this purpose. This paper discusses how resonant metamaterials can be used to guide Rayleigh waves along a non-flat irregular surface while minimizing scattering and energy loss in the bulk. This objective is achieved by designing an elastic metasurface of mass–spring oscillators, coupled to a resonant half-space constructed from several rows of periodically embedded mechanical resonators. In this framework, the metasurface is treated as a resonant boundary condition, whereas the resonant half-space is modeled as an equivalent homogenized medium characterized by effective mechanical parameters thanks to a dedicated homogenization technique. The sub-wavelength dimension for both surface and embedded resonators allows the derivation of a closed-form dispersion law. The dispersion analysis reveals the hybridization of the fundamental surface mode around the resonance frequency of the half-space, leading to the formation of a low-frequency bandgap. When the resonance frequency of the metasurface is tuned to fall within the bandgap frequency range, a highly confined and slow-moving surface mode emerges. This mode enables effective guidance of Rayleigh waves along surfaces with complex and irregular geometries. By tailoring the metasurface design, surface wave transmission can be optimized, while issues such as leakage and scattering at discontinuities are mitigated. This approach advances surface wave manipulation, offering promising implications for a wide range of engineering applications. • Rayleigh waves are guided by localized surface modes. • An elastic metasurface is attached to a locally resonant half-space. • The resonant half-space generates a low-frequency bandgap. • Tuning metasurfaces improves filtering and causes mode splitting and redirection. • The combined resonant system effectively masks surface defects.

Abstract Hiss waves play a critical role in shaping Earth's radiation belts and mediating magnetosphere‐ionosphere energy transfer. Intense hiss emissions are frequently generated within dynamic plasmaspheric plumes through linear and nonlinear wave‐particle interactions. However, the contribution of plume hiss to the spatial distribution of hiss throughout the plasmasphere is not yet well quantified. In this study, we perform ray‐tracing simulations to investigate the global propagation of plume hiss under varying plume morphologies, including different widths and levels of density lumpiness. We find that most hiss power is confined near the local time sector of the plume. Narrower plumes with embedded density ducts significantly enhance earthward wave guidance into the plasmaspheric core, compared to wide, smooth plumes. Furthermore, a subset of rays guided azimuthally along the plasmapause can serve as seed waves for intense dayside hiss. Our results highlight the role of plume hiss in shaping the global‐scale distribution of hiss waves.

This work was funded by the European Union, Horizon Europe program under grant agreement 101070417 (SPIDER project). For the required purpose of Open Access the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. In a world with rapidly increasing energy consumption driven by big data and power hungry AI applications, the need to increase energy efficiency in computing gains more and more attention. A further downscaling of CMOS becomes more and more challenging with higher investment costs, hence new computing architectures are urgently sought after. Among alternatives to CMOS are spin wave devices based on majority gate logic (SWMG), in which magnetic spin waves interference and logic gates with more than two inputs are used. Investigations of these devices on the logic circuit level have been started not long ago. Studies show their potential for smaller area and lower power consumptions compared to CMOS. So far most of the research was done based on magnetic materials like YIG, CoFeB or permalloy as wave guides, often on special carrier materials like Gadolinium Gallium Garnet (GGG) to compose a spin wave chip. These novel materials in the field of device packaging may require new concepts of their handling and integration into a full system as well as investigations of the influences of the packaging on their performance. The approach of packaging a SWMG in a hybrid system with a CMOS is supposed to shows a first step on how to combine different computational architectures in order to combine their strength in future systems, e.g. approximate computing or AI optimized subsystems.

• Meta-plates and meta-multi-card designed by time-domain design method. • Acoustic wave manipulation across an ultra-broad frequency bandwidth of 3-20 MHz. • A 1.5-mm-thick meta-plates and meta-multi-card are thinner than a coin. • Demonstration of non-destructive testing with excellent detection of small defects. Metamaterials offer unique possibilities in cloaking, focusing, steering, holography, absorption and free the designer from the constraints of traditional materials. However, existing acoustic metamaterial structures for wave-field shaping are limited to operating within a specific and relatively narrow frequency range, limiting their applications to those that require wide frequency bandwidth signals, such as medical and non-destructive imaging. In this paper, we propose a time-domain design method that leads to a metamaterial structure capable of steering and focusing ultrasonic waves in the range 3-20 MHz. This design is fabricated as 1.5-mm-thick metamaterial plates (meta-plates), composed of silicone and resin layers, to achieve acoustic wave steering and focusing across this ultra-broad frequency bandwidth. The performance of the meta-plates is demonstrated on metallic specimens containing defects, demonstrating their effectiveness for non-destructive testing applications. Hence, this paper brings the concept of broadband metamaterial-based devices into practice, paving the way for their broader use in MHz imaging applications.

Current acoustic radiation force (ARF) based methods for quantifying tissue elasticity primarily rely on shear wave propagation. However, their spatial resolution is limited by the need for spatial averaging, and their accuracy is affected by shear wave guidance, out of plane reflections, and geometric dispersion, which reduce their applicability in mechanically complex tissues. This study introduces a novel technique called Double Profile Intersection (DoPIo) ultrasound, which enables pointwise estimation of shear elastic modulus within the region of ARF excitation by leveraging the scatterer shearing rate. This rate is inferred by tracking ARF induced displacement using two tracking beams with different lateral widths. The wider beam captures scatterers located outside the ARF excitation region that begin to displace as shearing propagates. The time at which the two resulting displacement profiles intersect is mapped to shear elastic modulus using an empirically derived model based on finite element simulations. In silico, DoPIo estimated shear elastic modulus with a median error of −0.02 kPa and a median absolute deviation of 1.98 kPa in elastic materials up to 35 kPa. Experimental validation in vitro and ex vivo demonstrated that DoPIo reliably distinguished softer regions from stiffer ones, and its modulus estimates remained consistent across varying ARF push amplitudes, provided sufficient displacement estimation signal to noise ratio. DoPIo offers a feasible approach for high resolution, on axis shear elasticity estimation and holds promise as a quantitative biomarker that is independent of ARF amplitude.

Phased array technology involves the coordinated control of multiple elements to steer and focus elastic, electromagnetic, light, seismic, and radio waves in a specific location or direction. In structural integrity applications, it enables the precise inspection of materials and the identification of flaws/defects in structures. In this paper, we proposes a novel phased array method based on the steering and focusing of thermal waves, not previously explored for applications in NDT, named Phased-Array Thermography (PAT). This new three-dimensional approach aims to overcome the main limitations of most of the Active Infrared Thermography (IRT) methods that uniformly heat the component surface and generate a normal temperature gradient, resulting in lack of control in the gradient direction and, ultimately, limiting the identification capabilities of IRT. PAT leverages an array of heating elements to precisely steer and control the thermal wavefront. A closed-form analytical solution of the thermal wave propagation is derived and validated against numerical simulations. Then, the accuracy of proposed method is assessed via thermal Finite Element (FE) simulations of an aluminium plate by comparing PAT with a commonly used IRT technique such as the Pulsed Thermography (PT). Finally, experimental analyses of an aluminium plate with flat bottom holes and a composite plate with impact damage are performed to validate the proposed methodology. This novel approach to thermal wavefront steering via phased array technology introduces a previously unexplored mechanism for controlled heat wavefront, with transformative potential for non-destructive evaluation, structural health monitoring, and adaptive manufacturing systems.