A Fiber-Based Laser Ultrasonic System for Remote Inspection of Limited Access Components

Abstract

Surface and plate waves are commonly used to nondestructively inspect the near-surface region of a solid component for cracks and other defects due to, for example, structural fatigue. One particularly attractive method of generating and detecting such ultrasonic signals is laser based ultrasonics (LBU) [1]. In particular, because it is non-contact (i.e., does not require couplant), LBU can be implemented for inspection of limited access components using optical fibers, requiring only a small cross-sectional area for access. An example can be found in the inspection of internal surfaces of an aircraft wing as shown in Figure 1 where a contact method would obviously be difficult to apply. Furthermore, in cases where extremely high sensitivity is required, bandwidth reduction can be employed by concentrating the laser generated signal into a narrow frequency band.