Abstract

The second harmonic, 530 nm, of a pulsed YAG laser was used to generate photoacoustic pulses in water and water doped with potassium permanganate. The photodeflection technique¹ was used to measure the pressure pulse shape as a function of time. Studies were made for a range of incident pulse energies from several microjoules to the onset of dielectric breakdown in water. The discussion compares the observed time responses to the theory of photoacoustic pulses by Lai and Young.²

© 1985 Optical Society of America