Physics Commons^™

Diffraction Of Light By A Focused Ultrasonic Wave, J. Huang, Joel Alan Nissen, Erik Bodegom

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The measurement of the acoustic pressure of a planar ultrasonic wave by light diffraction is well established. The ability to do similar measurements in the case of spherical waves has been doubted. However, we show that the range of validity can be extended to the focal region of a spherical concave piezoelectric transducer. Light is passed through the focal plane of a spherical concave transducer and is diffracted as a result of the variation in the index of refraction. The peak pressure can be calculated from the diffraction intensity by making the following simplification. We assume that in the focal …