All-optical excitation and detection of leaky Rayleigh waves

The results of experiments on all-optical monitoring of leaky Rayleigh waves are reported. Leaky Rayleigh waves were excited by pulsed laser action on a liquid-solid interface and were detected by the light-beam-deflection technique. Both the measured velocity of their propagation and the attenuation are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Possible applications include acoustic spectroscopy of materials, depth profiling of layered structures, and tabletop modeling of seismic phenomena.