Photoacoustic investigation of the thermal properties of layered materials: calculation of the forward signal and numerical inversion procedure

The thermal characteristics of layered materials were investigated using a photoacoustic technique. The photoacoustic method was based on thermal waves, which posses other transmission and reflection properties than optical or acoustical waves. This characteristic allows it to obtain data which other techniques cannot. An inversion procedure was effective in obtaining depth information from the photoacoustic signal.