[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 4, No. 4 (1997) 481-483]
Photoacoustic Generation: Optical Fiber Ultrasonic Sources for Non Destructive Evaluation and Clinical Diagnosis
Elena BIAGI,1 Massimo BRENCI,2 Stefano FONTANI,1 Leonardo MASOTTI1 and Massimiliano PIERACCINI1
1Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Florence, via Santa Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy, 2IROE-CNR, via Panciatichi 64, 50127 Firenze, Italy
(Received January 22, 1997; Accepted May 2, 1997)
An innovative photoacoustic source for ultrasonic non destructive evaluation (NDE) and clinical diagnosis is proposed. The working principle is based on thermal conversion of laser pulses into a metallic film evaporated directly onto the tip of an optical fiber. Attractive advantages of the proposed transducer are high frequency, large bandwidth and good efficiency.
Key words : photoacoustics, ultrasonics, optical fiber, non-destructive evaluation, clinical diagnosis