David M. Pepper, Gilmore J. Dunning, David D. Nolte, John A. Coy, Bruno Pouet, G. David Bacher, Marvin B. Klein
Laser-based ultrasound (LBU), enables one to "see" into opaque materials with light, using lasers to generate and sense ultrasound, without contacting a sample. LBU is a nondestructive remote diagnostic, with application to industrial inspection and process control, and has niche opportunities where conventional ultrasound, using contact transducers, cannot be used. Examples include in-situ monitoring of the wall-thickness of red-hot pipes moving 3 meters/second from a furnace, evaluation of bonds in microelectronics components during assembly, inspection of delamination in composites of complex shape, and quality control of paper products moving at 20 meters/second in a mill.
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