Broad-band, high-efficiency optoacoustic generation using a novel photonic crystal-metallic structure

Various optical structures have been investigated for high-frequency optoacoustic generation via thermoelastic effect, including metal films, mixture of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and carbon black, two-dimensional (2-D) gold nanostructure with PDMS film, etc. However, they suffer from either low light absorption efficiency which affects the amplitude of generated ultrasound, or thick films that attenuate the amplitude and restrict its spectra bandwidth. Here we propose a novel one-dimensional photonic crystal-metallic (PCM) structure, which can be designed to absorb 100% optical energy of specific wavelengths in a total-internal-reflection geometry. The unique configuration enables us to choose suitable polymer films on top of the metallic structure, which can act as an ideal ultrasound transmitter to generate broad-band ultrasound with high conversion efficiency. Experimental results show that the PCM structure generated several times stronger ultrasound pressure than our previously demonstrated 2-D gold nanostructures [Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 093901 (2006)]. Moreover, the generated ultrasound exhibited almost the same frequency spectrum as the input laser pulse (duration width 6 ns). This shows that the PCM structure has great potential to generate broad-band ultrasound signal. It is also important to mention that the simple PCM structure with the polymer film forms a Fabry-Perot resonator and can play a role of an ultrasound receiver, which provides a convenient method to construct a broadband and all-optical ultrasound transducer.