Simultaneous measurement of thermal diff usivity and optical absorption coefficient using photothermal radiometry. I. Homogeneous solids

摘要

Modulated photothermal radiometry (PTR) has been widely used to measure the thermal diffusivity of bulk materials. The method is based on illuminating the sample with a plane light beam and measuring the infrared emission with an infrared detector. The amplitude and phase of the PTR voltage is recorded as a function of the modulation frequency and then fitted to the theoretical model. In this work, we test the ability of modulated PTR to retrieve simultaneously the thermal diffusivity and the optical absorption coefficient of homogeneous slabs. In order to eliminate the instrumental factor, self-normalization is used, i.e., the ratio of the PTR signal recorded at the rear and front surfaces. The influence of the multiple reflections of the light beam, the heat losses, and the transparency to infrared wavelengths are analyzed. Measurements performed on a wide variety of homogeneous materials, covering the whole range from transparent to opaque, confirm the validity of the method. In Part II of this work, the method is extended to multilayered materials.