Time-domain Brillouin scattering uses ultrashort laser pulses to generate coherent acoustic pulses of picoseconds duration in a solid sample and to follow their propagation in order to image material inhomogeneities with sub-optical depth resolution. The width of the acoustic pulse limits the spatial resolution of the technique along the direction of the pulse propagation to less than several tens of nanometres. Thus, the time-domain Brillouin scattering outperforms axial resolution of the classical frequency-domain Brillouin scattering microscopy, which uses continuous lasers and thermal phonons and which spatial resolution is controlled by light focusing. The technique benefits from the application of the coherent acoustic phonons, and its application has exciting perspectives for the nanoscale imaging in biomedical and material sciences. In this study, we report on the application of the time-domain Brillouin scattering to the 3D imaging of a polycrystal of water ice containing two high-pressure phases. The imaging, accomplished via a simultaneous detection of quasi-longitudinal and quasi-shear waves, provided the opportunity to identify the phase for individual grains and evaluate their crystallographic orientation. Monitoring the propagation of the acoustic waves in two neighbouring grains simultaneously provided an additional mean for the localisation of the grain boundaries.

Non-invasive fast imaging of grain microstructure of polycrystalline ceria with sub-micrometric spatial resolution is performed via time-domain Brillouin scattering. The propagation of a nanoacoustic pulse is monitored down to 8 μm deep in a 30 × 30 μm 2 area. Grains boundaries are reconstructed in three-dimensions via a two-step processing method, relying on the wavelet synchro-squeezed transform and the alphashape algorithm. Imaging contrast is improved by taking advantage of stronger sensitivity to anisotropy of transverse acoustic waves, compared with longitudinal waves. Utilization of transverse waves in the image processing reveals additional boundaries, confirmed by an electron backscattering diffraction pattern but not discerned using longitudinal waves. A buried inclined interface between differently oriented grains is identified by monitoring changes in amplitude (phase) of the portion of the signal associated with transverse (longitudinal) waves. Estimates of the inclination angle of this interface prove the sensitivity of our laser ultrasonic method to image inclined boundaries.

Wide-range continuous spatial variation of the film composition in lateral compositionally graded epitaxial films requires the development of high throughput measurement techniques for their local and non-destructive characterization with the highest possible spatial resolution. Here we report on the first application of the picosecond laser ultrasonics (PLU) technique for the evaluation of acoustical and optical parameters of lateral compositionally graded film, the Ba1−xSrxTiO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) material library. The film was not dedicatedly prepared for its opto-acousto-optic evaluation by PLU, exhibiting significant lateral variations in thickness and surface roughness. Therefore, the achieved measurements of the sound velocity and of the optical refractive index, and characterization of the surface roughness confirm the robustness of the PLU technique for thin film evaluation. We hope that the first measurements of the acoustical and optical properties of epitaxial grown Ba1−xSrxTiO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) by PLU technique accomplished here provide the parameters required for more extended predictive design of the phononic, photonic and phoxonic mirrors and cavities with superior properties/functionalities for novel multifunctional nanodevices.

No abstract

No abstract