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Updated: May 22, 2026

Evanescent Field Based Photoacoustics: Optical Property Evaluation at Surfaces
Published on: July 26, 2016
Envelope solitons in acoustically dispersive vitreous silica
John H Cantrell1, William T Yost
1Research Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA. john.h.cantrell@nasa.gov
Abstract:
Acoustic radiation-induced static strains, displacements, and stresses are manifested as rectified or 'dc' waveforms linked to the energy density of an acoustic wave or vibrational mode via the mode nonlinearity parameter of the material. An analytical model is developed for acoustically dispersive media that predicts the evolution of the energy density of an initial waveform into a series of energy solitons that generates a corresponding series of radiation-induced static strains (envelope solitons). The evolutionary characteristics of the envelope solitons are confirmed experimentally in Suprasil W1 vitreous silica. The value (- 11.9 ± 1.43) for the nonlinearity parameter, determined from displacement measurements of the envelope solitons via a capacitive transducer, is in good agreement with the value (- 11.6 ± 1.16) obtained independently from acoustic harmonic generation measurements. The agreement provides strong, quantitative evidence for the validity of the model.
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