Electromagnetic momentum carried by light is observable through the mechanical effects radiation pressure exerts on illuminated objects. Momentum conversion from electromagnetic fields to elastic waves within a solid object proceeds through a string of electrodynamic and elastodynamic phenomena, collectively bound by momentum and energy continuity. The details of this conversion predicted by theory have yet to be validated by experiments, as it is difficult to distinguish displacements driven by momentum from those driven by heating due to light absorption. Here, we have measured temporal variations of the surface displacements induced by laser pulses reflected from a solid dielectric mirror. Ab initio modelling of momentum flow describes the transfer of momentum from the electromagnetic field to the dielectric mirror, with subsequent creation/propagation of multicomponent elastic waves. Complete consistency between predictions and absolute measurements of surface displacements offers compelling evidence of elastic transients driven predominantly by the momentum of light.

In the study of ultrasound propagation in matter, displacement sensors are indispensable and of these, the most sensitive are piezoelectric sensors. In order to eliminate the intrinsic effects of the sensor from the measurements, the sensor has to be properly calibrated, which means that its transfer function has to be evaluated from a known sensor input signal and a measured sensor output signal. This has usually been done by comparing the sensor response signal to a known input signal, namely, an ultrasonic waveform, which can be theoretically calculated using mathematical models and numerical algorithms. Until now, the point-source-point-sensor model has been primarily used, while ultrasonic waves were induced mechanically either by a dropped ball or a capillary fracture. In this paper, a real-source-real-sensor model is presented. It provides a more faithful waveform construction and it enables the removal of the aperture effect from the calculated sensor transfer function, thus giving correct and universal sensor response characteristics. This was corroborated by high-frequency calibration measurements of the output signal of a Glaser-type conical sensor in two positions on both surfaces of a glass plate, while ultrasonic waves were induced by the radiation pressure of a nanosecond laser pulse.

The near-field, surface-displacement waveforms in plates are modeled using interwoven concepts of Green's function formalism and streamlined Huygens' principle. Green's functions resemble the building blocks of the sought displacement waveform, superimposed and weighted according to the simplified distribution. The approach incorporates an arbitrary circular spatial source distribution and an arbitrary circular spatial sensitivity in the area probed by the sensor. The displacement histories for uniform, Gaussian and annular normal-force source distributions and the uniform spatial sensor sensitivity are calculated, and the corresponding weight distributions are compared. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed scheme, measurements of laser ultrasound induced solely by the radiation pressure are compared with the calculated waveforms. The ultrasound is induced by laser pulse reflection from the mirror-surface of a glass plate. The measurements show excellent agreement not only with respect to various wave-arrivals but also in the shape of each arrival. Their shape depends on the beam profile of the excitation laser pulse and its corresponding spatial normal-force distribution.

Ultrasound modeling, being an established practice, is used to study the fundamentals of light-matter interactions. Although much has been published on the matter, pressure and thermal expansion induction mechanisms in laser ultrasonics have rarely been combined, as they should, in a single ultrasonic source while the effects of its size variation have only been shown to a limited extent. In the paper, we unite these light-matter interaction mechanisms, with inclusion of lateral optical forces, into a single laser-stimulated source as it is observed in nature. With a laser pulse as a manipulable source, we simulate the multifaceted workings of light-matter interactions by exposing the distinct transients originating from different source localities as generated by different induction mechanisms. We also present a transition of simulated ultrasonic waveforms in the epicentral point on the surface of a solid plate opposite from the source while it is expanded from a point to a quasi-limitless extent for pressure and thermal expansion generation regimes. The model utilizes geometric probability theory together with Huygens' superposition principle and temporal convolutions to construct the desired waveforms out of individual Green's functions. We show how the ultrasound generation regimes stem out of a single source and how its size together with energy and momentum transfers during the light-matter interactions affect the induced ultrasonic transients.

Optodynamic interaction between a laser pulse and the surface of an opaque, solid elastic object produces transient waves that propagate and reverberate within the object. They can be, in general, categorized into three distinctive types which are all formed through different mechanisms: ablation-induced waves (AIWs), lightpressure-induced waves (LIWs), and thermoelastic waves (TEWs). In this paper, out-of-plane displacements of such waves are simulated at the epicentral position on the opposite side of an extended plane-parallel elastic plate. Wave propagation is mathematically described by Green's transfer functions convolved with suitable time profiles of the incoming laser pulses. The simulated size of the circularly-symmetric laser illuminated area on the plate surface is varied to show the limit-to-limit transition of the displacement waveforms: from a 2D point source to an infinite 1D source.