title: Treatment of laser-induced thermal acoustics in the framework of discrete kinetic theory
abstract: The physics behind the laser-induced thermal acoustics technique is dealt with on a microscopic level. A discrete velocity model of the Boltzmann equation for inelastically interacting gas mixtures in the presence of two counterpropagating laser beams is established. The collisional scheme for the model is developed by taking into account elastic and inelastic interactions between the gas particles, on the one hand, and the interactions between monochromatic laser photons and gas particles, on the other hand. The formation and evolution of laser-pulse-driven thermal and density gratings are simulated by numerically solving the discrete kinetic equations based on the fractional step method. Numerical results are provided for a wide scope of Knudsen numbers.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Technical University Graz, Petersgasse 16, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hanser
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koller
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schurrer