title: Line source representation for laser-generated ultrasound in aluminum
abstract: Modeling the ultrasound generated by a laser source is critical for using noncontact laser-generated ultrasonic systems for the characterization of material properties. In this work, a laser line source was modeled and verified experimentally by measuring the ultrasonic shear wave signal generated in aluminum with a broadband laser generation/electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT)-detection system. Results of calculations and experiments show that the amplitude directivity of a laser line source is identical to that of a point source in the plane perpendicular to the line axis while the temporal dependence differs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Spicer