Thomas Berer

A method for the determination of longitudinal and transverse bulk acoustic wave attenuation from measurements of the decay-rate of two independent zero-group-velocity resonances in a couple of matched plates is presented. A linear relation is derived, which links the bulk-wave attenuation coefficients to the decay-rate of plate-resonances. The relation is used to determine the acoustic loss of tungsten at GHz frequencies from noncontact laser-ultrasonic measurements in plates with thicknesses of about 1 µm. The longitudinal and transverse attenuation was found to amount to 1918 m⁻¹ and 7828 m⁻¹ at 2.16 GHz and 3265 m⁻¹ and 12181 m⁻¹ at 2.46 GHz. The presented approach is validated with calculated responses to a thermoelastic source, and the accuracy of the obtained attenuation values is estimated to be in the range of 10%.

We present an evaluation of attenuation of elastic waves in the GHz range, based on the decay of thickness-stretch resonances of plates. We measured the elastic response of micro-scale aluminum plates, using a laser-ultrasound technique. The thermo-elastic laser excitation provides significant coupling into thickness-stretch modes in the frequency range above 1.5 GHz. To suppress interference from other resonant and transient modes, we used an excitation spot size well above the plate thickness and applied signal processing in the time and frequency domain. We adapted existing theory on the decay of thickness-shear modes to apply for thickness-stretch modes, validated the derived theory with simulations, and applied it to experiments. A set of samples with different thicknesses in the range of 1.1–2.15 μm allowed us to obtain damping values in the corresponding frequency range of 1.5–3 GHz.

In this work we are using spatially localized acoustic resonances, so-called zero group velocity (ZGV) Lamb waves, to assess the attenuation parameters from the temporally decaying acoustic waves in thin plates. As these waves are not propagating, the temporal decay of these waves is directly linked to the intrinsic material damping. Guided waves and ZGV Lamb waves are excited and detected fully optically using frequency domain laser excitation and optical vibrometry. The measured responses are fitted with results obtained from finite element simulations. Samples of tungsten with thicknesses in the micrometer range, featuring ZGV frequencies around 2 GHz, were produced. As the damping of the ZGV resonance is influenced by both, the shear and longitudinal attenuation, two ZGV resonances are evaluated in order to assess the overall attenuation.

Chemical mapping was demonstrated with a mid-infrared (MIR) microspectroscopy setup based on a supercontinuum source (SC) emitting in the spectral range from 1.55 to 4.5 µm and a MEMS-based Fabry-Pérot filter spectrometer. Diffraction limited spatial resolution in reflection geometry was achieved. A multilayer film consisting of different polymers and mixtures thereof was measured and results were compared to those gained with a conventional FTIR microscope equipped with a thermal MIR source. Results show that compared to thermal sources, the application of the SC source results in higher signal-to-noise ratios together with better spatial resolution and faster scanning. Furthermore, diffraction limited imaging of red blood cells was demonstrated for the first time in the MIR spectral region in reflection mode. The distinctive characteristics of the MIR spectral region in conjunction with the high brightness, spatial coherence and broadband nature of supercontinuum radiation show the potential for improving infrared microscopy significantly.

In this Letter, we theoretically describe photoacoustic signal generation of molecules, for which triplet relaxation can be neglected, by considering the excited state lifetime, the fluorescence quantum yield, and the fast vibrational relaxation. We show that the phase response of the photoacoustic signal can be exploited to determine the excited state lifetime of dark molecules. For fluorescent molecules, the phase response can be used to determine the fluorescence quantum yield directly without the need of reference samples.

We report on simultaneous frequency domain optical-resolution photoacoustic and fluorescence microscopy with sub-µm lateral resolution. With the help of a blood smear, we show that photoacoustic and fluorescence images provide complementary information. Furthermore, we compare theoretically predicted signal-to-noise ratios of sinusoidal modulation in frequency domain with pulsed excitation in time domain.

We developed a multimodal imaging system, combining noncontact photoacoustic imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Photoacoustic signals are recorded without contact to the specimens’ surface by using an interferometric technique. The interferometer is realized within a fiber-optic network using a fiber laser at 1550 nm as source. The fiber-optic network allows the integration of a fiber-based OCT system operating at a wavelength region around 1310 nm. Light from the fiber laser and the OCT source are multiplexed into one fiber using wavelength-division multiplexing. The same focusing optics is used for both modalities. Back-reflected light from the sample is demultiplexed and guided to the respective imaging systems. As the same optical components are used for OCT and photoacoustic imaging, the obtained images are co-registered intrinsically in lateral direction. Three-dimensional imaging is implemented by hybrid galvanometer and mechanical scanning. To allow fast B-scan measurements, scanning of the interrogation beam along one dimension is executed by a galvanometer scanner. Slow-axis scanning, perpendicular to the fast axis, is performed utilizing a linear translational stage. We demonstrate two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging on agarose phantoms.