TITLE:
Photoacoustic Imaging with a Line-Focus Laser Beam for Rapid Inspection and Tomographic Characterization of Simulated Surface and Undersurface Defects
AUTHORS:
Tsutomu Hoshimiya, Mika Hatake-Yama
KEYWORDS:
Imaging; Photoacoustic; Tomography; Line-Focus Beam
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Acoustics,
Vol.3 No.2A,
June
20,
2013
ABSTRACT: A photoacoustic (PA) imaging apparatus using a laser line-focus beam (LFB) was designed to perform rapid inspection and photoacoustic tomographic (PAT) imaging of surface and undersurface defects. 2D-PAT imaging of surface and undersurface defects was demonstrated based on a formulation similar to the X-ray tomography. The obtained PAT images represented forward-projected PA signals collected along the LFB. The reconstructed images were in close agreement with those obtained from laser point-focus beam (PFB) PA imaging. We achieved rapid non-destructive inspection of a surface-simulated defect using a LFB. The reconstructed PA image of the undersurface defect was consistent with that obtained by a plane-thermal wave diffraction model.