Abstract

An investigation was made of a photoacoustic technique for determining the optical absorption coefficient in solids. A train of laser pulses was passed through the solid, and a piezoelectric transducer attached directly to the sample measured the amplitude of the elastic wave generated by the absorbed radiation. Calibration was performed at a wavelength of known absorption. The sensitivity of the technique was found to be limited to about 1 × 10⁻⁵ cm⁻¹ in our samples due to radiation scattered onto the transducer, but the technique is capable of measuring absorption coefficients in the 10⁻⁶ cm⁻¹ range using laser powers of about 1 W.

© 1977 Optical Society of America

Photoacoustic spectroscopy: a measurement technique for low absorption coefficients

Herbert S. Bennett and Richard A. Forman
Appl. Opt. 16(11) 2834-2836 (1977)

Absorption coefficients of highly transparent solids: photoacoustic theory for cylindrical configurations

Herbert S. Bennett and Richard A. Forman
Appl. Opt. 15(5) 1313-1321 (1976)

Photoacoustic detection of nanosecond-pulse-induced optical absorption in solids

Y. Bae, J. J. Song, and Y. B. Kim
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Measurement techniques for small absorption coefficients: recent advances

A. Hordvik
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Photoacoustic determination of small optical absorption coefficients: extended theory

F. Alan McDonald
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