Measurement of thermal diffusivity, elastic anisotropy and crystallographic orientation by interferometric photothermal microscopy

This paper describes the use of interferometric photothermal microscopy for measuring the thermal diffusivity, crystallographic orientation and elastic anisotropy of a microscopic homogeneous volume of matter. This purely optical technique makes use of an intensity-modulated and focused laser beam to periodically heat the surface of the sample tested. An interferometer is used to detect the thermal expansion. After describing the experimental setup, we explain the inversion scheme allowing the determination of the local thermal diffusivity from the periodic sample surface displacement map, as well as the crystallographic orientation and elastic anisotropy in the case of cubic materials. These parameters are measured with a spatial resolution of a few cubic micrometres.