Generation of shear waves by laser in soft media in the ablative and thermoelastic regimes

摘要

This article describes the generation of elastic shear waves in a soft medium using a laser beam. Our experiments show two different regimes depending on laser energy. Physical modeling of the underlying phenomena reveals a thermoelastic regime caused by a local dilatation resulting from temperature increase and an ablative regime caused by a partial vaporization of the medium by the laser. The computed theoretical displacements are close to the experimental measurements. A numerical study based on the physical modeling gives propagation patterns comparable to those generated experimentally. These results provide a physical basis for the feasibility of a shear wave elastography technique (a technique that measures a soft solid stiffness from shear wave propagation) by using a laser beam.