CALCULATION OF THE PHOTOTHERMAL AND PHOTOACOUSTIC RESPONSE AT THE SAMPLE SURFACE IRRADIATED BY SHORT UV LASER-PULSES

An extension of the mathematical treatment of the thermal, elastic, an d acoustic material response is given for uv interaction using short l aser pulses. This calculation includes mechanical as well as thermal i nertia of the system and illustrates the deviation of the results util izing the parabolic heat equation only. For certain suggested photothe rmal detection techniques relevant signal quantities are calculated, h ence, approximating both thermal and acoustic contributions in such ph enomena as laser induced ablation, damage resistivity, incubation, and conditioning effects in optical coatings for a pulse range of 100 ns to 10 ps.