The generation of large-amplitude surface acoustic waves induced by a moving laser source

This letter focuses on the non-contact generation of surface acoustic waves by using a continuous wave laser moving along the sample surface. The desired large-amplitude surface acoustic waves can be generated efficiently if the laser moving speed matches the Rayleigh value, which is a typical characteristic of the continuous laser moving excitation method. The different amplitudes of surface acoustic waves were generated at different laser moving speeds, and the largest amplitude occurred when the laser moving speed approached the surface acoustic wave velocity of the material. Subsequently, the influence of laser moving distance on the wave’s amplitude under Rayleigh resonance conditions was investigated. The surface acoustic waves’ amplitude grew linearly with the laser’s moving distance in the elastic range. In brief, this paper provides a novel method to excite large amplitude surface acoustic waves by simply changing the moving speed and moving distance of the light.