Distinct responses of photoelastic coefficients to He+ ion implantation in LiNbO3 studied by ultrafast photoacoustic imaging
Abstract
In ultrafast photoacoustics, the application of ultrashort laser pulses provides an opportunity both to generate coherent ultrashort acoustic pulses and to detect them. Probing the ultrashort acoustic pulse along its propagation path in optically transparent materials constitutes a photoacoustic modality for imaging with nanoscale resolution, which is called time-domain Brillouin scattering (TDBS). We present TDBS measurements with variable probe light polarization on He + ion-implanted X-cut LiNbO 3 to investigate the depth-dependent modification of its acoustic, optical and acousto-optic properties. An anisotropic TDBS model incorporating optical birefringence and photoelastic mode conversion was developed and validated by comparing theoretical calculations with experimental results. The analysis reveals that ion implantation predominantly modifies the photoelastic coefficients, rather than the acoustic velocity and optical refractive indices of LiNbO 3 . The extracted depth-resolved profiles share a peak near 0.76 μm, in close agreement with the shifted Transport of Ions in Matter (TRIM) vacancy profile and within the damaged layer visible by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but they exhibit broader depth distributions. Moreover, the individual coefficients respond differently to implantation, with the magnitude of P 41 exhibiting a significantly larger relative decrease than P 21 and P 31 . This anisotropic modification of the photoelastic coefficients, revealed by ultrafast photoacoustics, provides insight into implantation-induced changes in LiNbO 3 , and confirms the high sensitivity of TDBS for nondestructive, depth-resolved imaging of ion-implanted materials.
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BibTeX
@article{zhao2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct responses of photoelastic coefficients to He+ ion implantation in LiNbO3 studied by ultrafast photoacoustic imaging}},
author = {Hongyuan Zhao and Zhiheng Chen and Yueying Hou and Enrui Zhang and Junheng Yao and Yu Deng and Xuejun Yan and Ming-Hui Lu and Vitalyi Gusev and Yan-Feng Chen},
journal = {Photoacoustics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.pacs.2026.100870},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05779219v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Distinct responses of photoelastic coefficients to He+ ion implantation in LiNbO3 studied by ultrafast photoacoustic imaging
AU - Hongyuan Zhao
AU - Zhiheng Chen
AU - Yueying Hou
AU - Enrui Zhang
AU - Junheng Yao
AU - Yu Deng
AU - Xuejun Yan
AU - Ming-Hui Lu
AU - Vitalyi Gusev
AU - Yan-Feng Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Photoacoustics
DO - 10.1016/j.pacs.2026.100870
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05779219v1
AB - In ultrafast photoacoustics, the application of ultrashort laser pulses provides an opportunity both to generate coherent ultrashort acoustic pulses and to detect them. Probing the ultrashort acoustic pulse along its propagation path in optically transparent materials constitutes a photoacoustic modality for imaging with nanoscale resolution, which is called time-domain Brillouin scattering (TDBS). We present TDBS measurements with variable probe light polarization on He + ion-implanted X-cut LiNbO 3 to investigate the depth-dependent modification of its acoustic, optical and acousto-optic properties. An anisotropic TDBS model incorporating optical birefringence and photoelastic mode conversion was developed and validated by comparing theoretical calculations with experimental results. The analysis reveals that ion implantation predominantly modifies the photoelastic coefficients, rather than the acoustic velocity and optical refractive indices of LiNbO 3 . The extracted depth-resolved profiles share a peak near 0.76 μm, in close agreement with the shifted Transport of Ions in Matter (TRIM) vacancy profile and within the damaged layer visible by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but they exhibit broader depth distributions. Moreover, the individual coefficients respond differently to implantation, with the magnitude of P 41 exhibiting a significantly larger relative decrease than P 21 and P 31 . This anisotropic modification of the photoelastic coefficients, revealed by ultrafast photoacoustics, provides insight into implantation-induced changes in LiNbO 3 , and confirms the high sensitivity of TDBS for nondestructive, depth-resolved imaging of ion-implanted materials.
SN - 2213-5979
ER -