Theoretical and experimental investigations of broadband thermoelastically generated ultrasonic pulses

Broadband ultrasonic pulses can be remotely generated by short laser pulses at solid surfaces via the thermoelastic effect and by ablation of surface material. Such a technique might be a viable tool in nondestructive evaluation. This contribution firstly outlines the elements of a hitherto lacking three-dimensional theory of thermoelastic sound generation and secondly a comparison with experimental results is given.