Photothermal techniques with a top-hat beam excitation

摘要

A flatly topped circular beam (“top-hat beam”) is employed as the excitation beam for photothermal deflection and surface thermal lens techniques. The Fresnel diffraction model is applied to describe the photothermal signals. The theoretical comparison between a Gaussian beam and a top-hat beam excited photothermal signal amplitudes shows that the use of the top-hat beam excitation improves the measurement sensitivity of the photothermal techniques. Experimental results for both photothermal deflection and surface thermal lens are presented. The potential applications of the top-hat beam excited photothermal techniques are highlighted.