Studies of laser-generated ultrasound using a micromachined silicon electrostatic transducer in air

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

An air-coupled micromachined silicon electrostatic transducer has been used to detect ultrasound generated by a pulsed laser in metals and polymers. Bulk longitudinal and shear wave modes have been observed, as have Rayleigh waves in thick samples and Lamb waves in thinner plates. The results are in good agreement with surface displacement waveforms obtained using a contact capacitance device as a reference. The result is a flexible noncontact ultrasonic system with potential uses in materials characterization.