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2021　Photoacoustic and Photothermal Techniques (PA&PT) for material testing: Principles and Applications (Advanced)

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Academic unit or major
Graduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Instructor(s)
Livoti Roberto 
Class Format
Lecture     
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Intensive ()  
Group
-
Course number
MAT.P605
Credits
1
Academic year
2021
Offered quarter
4Q
Syllabus updated
2021/4/6
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
English
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Course description and aims

The purpose of the course is to provide the theoretical basis for understanding the theory and the principles of photoacoustic and photothermal techniques and related instruments, and to discuss the main applications for nonsdestructive evaluation and testing of materials in many different fields: industry, environment, energy, but also biology, medicine, nanoscience, and in the emerging sector of agri-food. Final comparisons will be introduced among the diagnostic techniques. The course contains also some practical activities for the data analysis and processing.

Student learning outcomes

To understand the theory and the principles of photoacoustic and photothermal techniques and related instruments, and to discuss the main applications for nonsdestructive evaluation and testing of materials in many different fields:

Keywords

photoacoustic, photothermal, nonsdestructive evaluation, nanoscience,

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills Intercultural skills ✔ Communication skills ✔ Critical thinking skills ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

The course will be subdivided in 6 lectures of 1h 30m each + 1 open course for students and senior scientists

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 In this first lecture the general purpose of the course will be introduced, together with some historical background starting from the experiments with the “Photophone” made by A.G. Bell in 1880. The basic principles of photoacoustics technique will be also provided, with a simple explanation of the photoacoustic effect by means of the “thermal piston model” by A.Rosencweig and A.Gersho in 1976. The lecture will be concluded by showing the time-line of the significant events in photoacoustic science and the development of innovative detection systems. The applications will be introduced and discussed later from Lectures 4. None
Class 2 In this second lecture the basic principles of most of the known photothermal techniques will be provided: in particular photothermal deflection, photothermal displacement, modulated optical reflectance, photo-pyroelectric, laser picosecond acoustics and photothermal radiometry will be introduced, discussing the main experimental setup, and showing how the detected signal is related to the heat source or to the induced temperature increase. The applications will be introduced and discussed later from Lectures 4. None
Class 3 The third lecture will be devoted to the thermal wave physics. The mathematics of the thermal waves will be introduced starting from both Fourier and Energy conservation laws. The thermal diffusion length, the thermal effusivity will be defined starting from thermal conductivity, diffusivity and heat capacity. Several phenomena as the generation, propagation, reflection, refraction, interference and back scattering, of thermal waves will be deeply discussed, showing how they can be detected and used for NDE & NDT and for the determination of thermophysical properties of materials.
Class 4 In this fourth lecture the main applications of photoacoustic and photothermal techniques will be introduced: in particular we show how to measure the thermal diffusivity, optical absorption of homogeneous material as for example solid sample (metals, semiconductors, photovoltaics, superconductors), liquids or gases and pollutants. Specific applications will be mentioned in biology and agri-food science.
Class 5 In this fifth lecture it will be shown how photoacoustic and photothermal techniques can be successfully applied to nanomaterials, nanophotonic and nanophononic band gap materials, nanostructured materials, opals etc..
Class 6 The sixth lecture is devoted to mention the nanoscale heat processes which doesn’t follow the Fourier law, exploring which are the photoacoustic and photothermal techniques applicable and in which regimes. Future perspectives to new possible applications will be also eventually given. In addition some exercises and numerical simulations will be proposed to students directly in the class.
Class 7 “open course”. The proposed title for the last lecture will be: “Recent advances and future perspectives in photoacoustic and photothermal science”

Textbook(s)

will be informed in the lecture.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

will be informed in the lecture.

Assessment criteria and methods

report

Related courses

  • MAT.P507 ： Analytical and analogical methods to solve the heat transfer equation and the application to infrared image processing

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

None

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