Reflection and transmission of coupled elastic waves by a semiconduction interlayer with consideration of photothermal effects.

The wave propagation problem through an inhomogeneous semiconduction slab sandwiched between two thermoelastic half-spaces is studied in this paper. Due to the photothermal effects and photoacoustic effects, the multiple physical fields coupled waves are generated in the semiconduction interlayer. For the inhomogenous semiconduction slab of finite thickness, the multiple physical fields coupled waves cannot be expressed explicitly. Instead, the state vector is defined, and the state transfer equation is derived to obtain the transfer matrix of the inhomogeneous slab. The reflection and transmission coefficients as well as the dissipation energy are estimated. The influences of the photothermal effects and photoacoustic effects are discussed based on the numerical results. It is found that the photothermal effects and photoacoustic effects result in some different vibration modes and associated propagation modes. The gradient profiles of the inhomogeneous interlayer have complicated influences on the reflection and transmission behaviors and can be well-designed to adjust the propagation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]