PHOTOACOUSTIC AND PHOTOPYROELECTRIC APPROACH TO CALORIMETRIC STUDIES

During the last couple of decades, photoacoustic and photothermal tech niques have been used extensively for the study of thermal properties of condensed matter and for thermal wave probing of all kinds of mater ials and structures. In this paper, we will give a brief account of th e basic aspects of the successful standard photoacoustic model with ac oustic microphone detection and of a setup with an alternative detecti on technique with a pyroelectric transducer. The possibilities of thes e measuring schemes for the simultaneous measurement of the specific h eat capacity and thermal conductivity will be illustrated with results from a study of the Curie point of gadolinium and for liquid crystals . (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.