Experimental and theoretical waveforms of Rayleigh waves generated by a thermoelastic laser line source.

An analytical model has been developed for the generation of surface acoustic (Rayleigh) waves in an isotropic solid by a thermoelastic laser line source. For a Gaussian light intensity profile, this model leads to an expression in closed form for the normal surface displacement of the Rayleigh wave either in the near field or in the far field domain. Quantitative agreement has been found for experiments carried out with an interferometric optical probe on a duraluminum plate.