Laser generation of convergent

acoustic waves for materials

inspection
P. CIELO, F. NADEAU and M. LAMONTAGNE

A laser technique for generating convergent acoustic waves is described. The

optically probed Rayleigh wave in the centre of convergence shows an
amplification factor of the order of 20 with respect to a collimated surface wave.
Applications to the ultrasonic characterization of layered materials and to crack
detection are described.

KEYWORDS: ultrasonic testing, lasers, surface acoustic waves

Introduction to the probed point without spread losses. Such a wave

can be generated by focusing the laser to a thin line
Laser generation of ultrasound’,* is an attractive through the use of a cylindrical lensg. It should be
technique because it requires no contact with the mentioned that this line-source technique is more
inspected material. Applications of such a technique to convenient than the disc-source not only because it
non-destructive testin$-s and to high-temperature avoids spread losses, but also because it produces a
materials characterization’j*’ have been reported. To higher-frequency surface wave without overheating the
take most advantage of the non-contact nature of this surface. Indeed, the wavelength of the surface wave is
method, laser interferometers should also be used for nearly equal to twice the width of the line if the laser
the detection of the generated wave. Laser ultrasound pulse is shorter than the Rayleigh wave transmit time.
probes have several advantages compared to contact
devices: they can be absolutely calibrated have a wide A natural extension of the line-source technique is the
and flat frequency response, do not perturb the converging-wave configuration shown in Fig. 1~‘~. In
ultrasonic wave to be detected, and have a spot size this case a thin, annular-shaped heated area produces
that is much smaller than the ultrasonic wavelength to a wave converging towards the detection point. This
be probed. The latter consideration is important when technique takes full advantage of the very small spot
a surface wave or a non-normally incident bulk wave size of the probing interferometer as compared to more
must be detected. The main limitation of laser sensitive but wider ultrasonic probes such as the
interferometers is their limited sensitivity compared to piezoelectric or capacitive transducers. A similar
piezoelectric transducers. concept has been presented in a recent paper” where a
water-immersed holographic mask was laser-irradiated
Attempts have been made to increase the laser- to produce a high-intensity focused ultrasonic beam
ultrasound conversion efficiency to obtain larger without overheating the laser-irradiated area This
ultrasound pulses without reaching the surface- approach has some similarity with the modulated-
damaging ablation regime. The use of constraining beam generation of surface waves through a mask’*.
layer? increases substantially the generation efficiency Although interesting for medical diagnostics and
of bulk waves in the thermoelastic regime. Unfortun- immersion-bath ultrasonic inspection, this technique
ately, the requirement for surface layers is not always appears to be hardly applicable to non-contact fast
compatible with quick and non-contact industrial scanning ndt of solid materials.
inspection procedures.
In this paper, a simple technique using a focused
The other approach to increase the signal level is to axicon is described for the generation of a converging
control the directional properties of the laser-generated surface wave. The interferometrically detected
ultrasonic wave. Fig. 1 illustrates this concept in the ultrasonic wave at the centre of convergence shows an
case of a thermoelastically-generated surface wave. In increase in the signal level by a factor of 20 with
Fig. la. a disc-shaped laser-heated area produces a respect to a line-source produced wave with equal
surface wave which spreads two-dimensionally over the surface heating. Some applications to the non-
surface, and is detected by a focused probing beam at a destructive inspection of solid materials are also
certain distance from the generation area. Fig 1b presented.
shows a nearly-collimated surface wave which travels
Experimental apparatus
The authors are at the Industrial Materials Research Institute, National
Research Council of Canada, Boucherville. Quebec, Canada, J4B 6Y4.
A schematic of the experimental system is shown in
Paper recewed 26 March 1984. Remed 24 October 1984. Fig 2. A multimode Nd:YAG laser, giving typically

0041-624X/85/020055X)8/$03.00 0 1985 Butterworth 8 Co (Publishers) Ltd

ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985 55
 telescope decreases the beam divergence by an amount
equal to its magnification; this was required to obtain a
sufficiently narrow annulus with a multimode laser
beam and a lens-to-surface focusing distance of almost
1 m.
The surface wave is detected in the centre of the
annulus by a HeNe interferometer focused on the
roughly polished surface of the aluminium sample
through a HeNe-reflecting YAG-transmitting dichroic
mirror. The interferometer is locked to an average
path-difference of (n + 1/4)X by applying a slowly
varying correcting voltage on the piezoelectrically
a controlled reference mirrorr3,r4. In such a case, the
detected intensity can be written:

(1)
Probed point

where Z,, is the average intensity incident on the

detector, I r is the peak-to-peak intensity variation
Heated area - / obtained t%r a path-difference variation larger than x/2,
and X = 633 nm is the HeNe wavelength. As the
ultrasonic surface displacement Ax is much smaller
than X, we can write from (1):

Ax1:gL,looa” VPP [nml (2)

IPP 27
b
where AV and V are the oscilloscope displayed
voltages produce “Bby the detected intensities AI and I,,
respectively. Such an expression is used to calibrate
d point absolutely the interferometer by measuring the
maximum signal fluctuation VPp obtained with a large
displacement of the reference mirror.
The sensitivity of the interferometer is of approximately
0.02 nm with a bandwidth B = 30 MHz. This is not far
from the quantum limit obtained by comparing the
photocurrent signal:

Is = rlU = qIpp Ax2nlX (3)

Fig. 1 Thermoelastic generation of: a - diverging surface acoustic wave; where n = 0.4 A W-l is the detector efficiency. with the
b - a collimated wave; and c - a converging wave
shot noise of the photodiode”~‘?

i, = (2rqIc,B)1’Z (4)

where e = 1.6 X lo-l9 C is the electronic charge. The

minimum detectable displacement is obtained by
equating (3) and (4):

Ax _ (2 e M9’/* x
Tp I PP z;;
Fig. 2 Experimental apparatus for the laser generation and detection of
converging surface waves. The inset shows a photo of the YAG annulus which gives AX = 0.008 nm for I,, = I,42 = 1 mW. The
on the sample plane
additional noise that we observe is attributed to laser
noise” as well as to a reduction in the Ipr,/l,, ratio
15 ns, 0.1 J pulses, is expanded by a Galilean telescope
caused by the spatial coherence loss of the reflected
and focused through a positive axicon on the surface of
beamIs.
the sample, where it produces a 15 mm diameter, 0.2 mm
wide annulus. The diameter of the annulus can be The annular laser pulse produces a convergent as well
varied by displacing the axicon longitudinally. The as a divergent Rayleigh wave, whose vertical displace-

56 ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985

ment on the surface can be represented for r Z 0 by a
superposition of continuous annular wavesL9:
5
U, = Ho&r) exp(iwt) (6)

where H,, is a Hankel function of the first kind for the

converging wave, and of the second kind for the diver- z 0
ging wave, k is the wavenumber, x the distance from
the centre of the annulus, o the angular frequency and
r the time. Except for the small values of r, for which
(6) is not valid the convergent waves can be approxi- -5
mated using the asymptotic formulae for the Bessel 1
functions:
a
u,(r -+ -) = (2/nkr)‘h exp[i(kr + wt - n/4)] (7)

showing that the amplitude of the annular wave is

expected to vary as fY2 for large values of r.
The amplitude variation of the converging pulse was
experimentally recorded over a line passing through I

3
the centre of the annulus by angularly scanning the
dichroic mirror shown in Fig. 2. The peak-to-peak
amplitude of the detected surface wave is plotted in
Fig. 3 as a function of the distance r to the centre. As 0
we can see, the amplitude of the detected wave is very
large in the centre, while for r > 0.5 mm the curve
shows a gradual decay in agreement with (7). The
amplitude of the wave near the border of the annulus, -I
r z 7 mm, corresponds to the amplitude of a
collimated surface wave as generated by a line-source
heating the surface to the same temperature. As such b

0.5

z O

-0.5

I I I I I
t I I I I I
I 2 3 6
Time4 [r-s] 5

Fig. 4 Waveforms of some signals reported in Fig. 3: a - r = 0;

b--r=0.5 mm; c- r=2 mm

an amplitude is of nearly 0.4 nm, we can conclude that

the signal obtained in the centre of a converging wave
is amplified by a factor of more than 20 with respect to
the one obtained with a line-source of equal power
density. The positioning accuracy required to point the
0 2 4 6 8 IO 12 HeNe probing beam at the centre of the annulus is of
the order of the annulus width, 0.2 mm.
Distance from centre [mm]
Fig. 3 Amplitude of the detected surface wave as a function of the
Figure 4 shows some typical signals obtained (a) in the
distance r from the centre of convergence centre, (b) at 0.5 mm and (c) at 2 mm from the centre.

ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985 57

In the centre, a strong dipolar pulse is obtained with a laser-generated converging wave on electroplated
shape similar to the one previously observed in the copper samples with different coating thicknesses are
thermoelastic regime (see Ref. 2, Fig 19b). Out of the shown in Fig. 5. The dispersive effect of the coating
centre, the two pulses coming from the two sides of the becomes increasingly evident as the coating thickness
annulus are resolved when the distance between the is increased. The temporal delay of the high-frequency
centre of the annulus and the probed point is larger components with respect to the low-frequency main
than the pulse duration. As can be appreciated from pulse in the Ag-plated sample is apparent in Fig. 5c.
Fig 4c, the two pulses have different shapes. The while in the thick Cr-plated sample, Fig. Sf. the high
converging pulse is unipolar while the diverging pulse is frequencies precede the main pulse. This was expected
dipolar. Although not fully understood this behaviour because the short wavelengths tend to propagate
appears to be related to the different focusing mainly within the coating which has an acoustic
conditions in front and behind the pulse for the velocity lower than the substrate in the case of the Ag-
converging and diverging waves. Also, note the plated sample. and higher than the substrate in the
presence of a P-wave2 after a time corresponding to the case of the Cr-plated samples.
longitudinal wave velocity in the aluminium sample. Such a dispersive effect is accompanied by a slight
variation in the time-of-flight of the main pulse. as
Applications to materials inspection shown in Fig. 6. In this figure, the relative time-of-flight
Some examples of possible applications of the of the main negative pulse is plotted as a function of
convergent-wave technique to the non-destructive the coating thickness. A time-of-flight measurement
evaluation of materials are described in this section. may thus be used as a parameter for the evaluation of
The list is by no means exhaustive, while no effort was the coating thickness, particularly for coatings that arc
made in the experimental demonstrations to reach the thin with respect to the main pulse wavelength. Best
ultimate sensitivity of such a technique. results should however be obtained by time-resolved
spectroscopic techniqueP. which would take full
The convergent-wave technique is well suited to
advantage of the flat frequency response of the optical
materials characterization through a measure of the
probe and of the wide frequency bandwidth of the
acoustic surface-wave velocity on flat or spherical
laser-generated pulse.
surfaces. A large number of investigations have been
reported for the characterization of materials’ Crack inspection is another typical application of
properties such as alloy composition, microstructure or ultrasonics. Techniques reported in this field in the
residual stress using bulk acoustic waves on parallel past include scattered amplitude methods. bulk-wave
plates of known thickness. A much smaller amount of and surface-wave timing methods and ultrasonic
work has been done using surface waves. in spite of the spectroscopy analysi?‘. Some experiments have been
unique suitability of surface waves to measure performed to explore the suitability of the convergcnt-
properties such as hydrogen entry in metalsZo or glass wave technique to crack inspection. A crack was
ternpeP. simulated with a I mm deep. 0.1 mm wide eloctro-
discharge machined slot across the surface of the
One reason for this is the difficulty to couple and
sample. Fig. 7 shows the waveforms obtained in the
detect surface waves efficiently using liquid-coupled
case of an out-of-centre probe and different
transducers, given the strong attenuation suffered by
configurations.
such waves when a liquid film is present along the
surface-wave path. Critical angle reflectometry** has As expected, the divergent-wave pulse disappears when
often been used to overcome this problem, but this the slot is on the other side of the probe with respect to
technique is time-consuming and requires the the centre (Fig. 7b) while the convergent-wave
immersion of the sample. disappears when the slot is on the same side as the
probe (Fig 7~). Also, note the small pulse reflection
The laser-generated convergent-wave technique would
from the slot in Fig. 7c. It should be mentioned that
provide a fast and non-contact alternative to such while the reflection from a real, irregular crack would
methods. The surface-wave velocity can be obtained in
be much less visible than with a regular EDM slot, the
homogeneous materials through time-of-flight measure-
transmission technique proposed here should not be
ments from signals of the kind shown in Fig 4a. The affected by the shape and orientation of the crack Fig.
resolution is of the order of the 5 ns sampling period
7d shows that the converging-wave pulse is barely
leading to an accuracy of the order of + 0.1 %I for an
affected by the preence of a 0.1 mm deep slot. showing
annulus of 30 mm in diameter.
that a certain amount of crack depth evaluation is
An application of such a technique to the characteri- possible by simply observing the signal. Better
zation of electroplated materials is described in this sensitivity should be obtainable by using more
paper. Ag- and Cr-plated copper samples with different elaborate signal processing methods. such as
coating thicknesses were inspected using laser-genera- transmission Rayleigh-wave spectroscopy28,*9
ted convergent surface waves. It is well known23 that
Finally. the advantages of the convergent-wave
materials coated with layers of different acoustic pro-
technique over the spot heating approach in the pulse-
perties are frequency-dispersive when the acoustic echo testing of adhesively-bonded plates has been
wavelength is of the same order of magnitude as the
examined. A 4 mm thick aluminium plate epoxy-
coating thickness. The thickness or the acoustic proper- bonded to a massive aluminium substrate was
ties of the coating layer can thus be evaluated by inspected using different beam geometries. Fig. 8 shows
measuring the surface wave velocity at different some typical waveforms. Figs 8a to 8d were obtained
frequenciesZ4sZ5. Non-contact, single-shot probing of
by spot heating while Figs Xc and 8f correspond to
laser-generated surface waves for such an application is
annular heating. Figs Xa to Xc were obtained on an
an attractive possibility. unbonded region. while Fig. Xf was obtained on a well-
Some typical waveforms obtained at the centre of the bonded region. Figs 8a and 8b correspond to the case

58 ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985

 2

Eo

-2
I

Fig. 5 Waveforms obtained tn the centre of a 1.5 cm dwneter annulus for an electroplated copper sample: a - bare sample; b - 20 pm thick Ag
coating; c - 60 pm thick Ag coating; d - 7.5 pm thick Cr coating; e - 15 pm thick Cr coating; f - 40 pm thick Cr coating

ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985 59

 ultrasonic inspection is presented in this paper. The
main advantages of such an approach are the obten-
tion of a large ultrasonic amplitude in the centre of the
converging wave, as well as the possibility to obtain
short, high-frequency pulses without overheating the
surface. Some applications to the detection of surface
defects and to the evaluation of layered materials are
described.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Prof. G.W. Farnell and
Drs C.K. Jen and D.A. Hutchins for helpful
discussions.

References
0.98 White, RM. Generation of Elastic Waves by Transient
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0 IO 20 30 40 50 Conf. NDT. Melbourne (1979)
Coating thickness km]

Fig. 6 Relative time-of-flight of the negative pulse as measured from the

waveforms of the kind shown in Fig. 5 as a function of the coatmg
thickness, for the Ag and Cr electroplated samples Probed point
\

when the probing HeNe laser is pointed in the centre

of the heated area, with (a) or without (b) plasma
breakdown at the irradiated surface. As we can see. the
eventual pulse echo is overshadowed by either the

\
plasma turbulence or the thermal expansion in the
Heated annulus
solid and in the adjacent air layer. It should also be

[1
noted that the laser-generation efficiency of a
I mmslot
longitudinal and shear waves in the thermoelastic
regime is maximum in a direction far from the
normaP. ye-- \
Figures 8c and d show two waveforms obtained when 1’
the HeNe beam is pointed outside of the 1 mm x*
i
diameter disc-shaped heated area, at a distance of \ ,’
\
2 mm (c) and 8 mm (d) from the centre of the heating ‘A__ 0’
YAG beam. A weak plasma was produced by the YAG
pulse in such cases. The broad Rayleigh (R) wave can b
clearly be seen in the two waveforms, with a
superposed random modulation which is attributed to
the presence of ‘hot spots’ in the multimode YAG
beam. The air-propagated pressure wave is also
apparent in Fig. 8c.
As to the longitudinal (L) and shear (S) echoes from
the unbonded surface, they are more visible in Fig. Sd,
as expected from the angular distribution of the
generated bulk waves*, but they are weak and
overshadowed by the plasma- and modal structure-
produced noise. Figs 8e and f correspond to the
annular configuration previously described in this
paper. on an unbonded (e) and well-bonded (f) region
of the plate. The complete absence of plasma, as well
as the narrowness of the acoustic pulses. allow a more
consistent evaluation of the reflected longitudinal and
shear echoes. It should also be noted that a repetitive
Rayleigh pulse provides a reference for the evaluation
of the absorptivity-dependent heating energy density. d

Fig. 7 Waveforms obtained on an alumlnlum sample in the presence of

Conclusion an EDM slot, wth an out-of-centre probe; a - no slot; b - 1 mm deep
slot on the opposite side of the probe; c - 1 mm deep slot on the same
A converging-wave approach to laser-generated side as the probe; d - 0.1 mm deep slot on the same side as the probe

60 ULTRASONICS. MARCH 1985

 4mm

:;I
YAG F
--._ t
He-P&?
.

__--+

I I a

% 0

.
-2
I

YAG
--__v

1
-*
_--- _-I I

5
He-Ne \

-Qk /
z 0
%z \
4
--_ --_, -5
/
L

__-- _. c

Fig. 8 Pulse-echo waveforms obtained with different beam geometries on a partially-bonded 4 mm thick Al plate: a - and b - concentrated YAG beam
superposed to the probing beam. with and without plasma respectively; c - and d - concentrated YAG beam, probing beam at 2 mm and 8 mm from the
heated area, respectively; e - and f - annular YAG beam, on an unbended and well-bonded area, respectively

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