Application Of Lasers To Measure The Optical, Thermal And Mechanical Properties Of Materials
Albert F. Slomba · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1977
The advent of the laser has had a profound effect in most areas of scientific and technological research. A particularly fertile area of application is in the measurement of the optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of materials. This paper discusses the application of laser measuring techniques in the fields of Raman spectroscopy, optical surface scatter, interferometry and optical testing, dimensional stability measurements, microyield and microcreep studies, thermal expansion coefficient measurements, and transient thermal phenomena in optical materials. In these areas of materials measurement, all of the laser's characteristics-temporal and spatial coherence, frequency tunability, collimation, polarization, and high brightness--have been usefully exploited at wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the far infrared.