Laser Spectroscopy Under Extreme Conditions

Centre for Imaging and Applied Optics, Swinburne University of Technology

3.30pm, Friday 8 March 2002, Virtual Reality Theatre (AS406), Applied Sciences Building, Swinburne

Brillouin scattering refers to the inelastic scattering of light by thermally excited elastic waves (i.e. acoustic phonons). It is perhaps best known as one of the sources of scattering in optical fibres. However, the effect has attracted considerable attention over the years for characterizing elastic and optoelastic bulk properties of transparent materials. With the introduction of high-contrast spectrometers, scattering from opaque materials can now also be studied. Thus surface Brillouin spectroscopy has been widely used in the last decade to investigate the elastic properties of thin films, interfaces and layered materials. Other excitations, such as magnons, plasmons and entropy fluctuations, can also couple to the electronic states of the material and cause scattering. This seminar will describe techniques that have been developed to extend elasticity measurements to high temperatures (up to 1200K) and high pressures (5 GPa).

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