Analytical study of laser-induced photo-thermoelastic waves in a porous semiconductor material
Ibrahim A. Abbas, Areej AlmuneefPurpose
This study aims to develop an analytical model for laser-induced photo-thermoelastic wave propagation in a porous semiconductor medium. The main objective is to examine the coupled effects of thermal relaxation, plasma carrier diffusion, elastic deformation and void volume fraction on the transient response of the material.
Design/methodology/approach
The medium is modeled as an isotropic, homogeneous, elastic and porous semiconductor within the framework of generalized photothermoelastic theory. The governing equations for temperature, displacement, carrier density, void volume fraction and stress are formulated in a one-dimensional dimensionless form. The Laplace transform is applied to convert the coupled time-dependent equations into the transformed domain, and the eigenvalue approach is used to obtain analytical solutions. Numerical inversion is then performed to recover the physical fields in the time domain. Parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effects of thermal relaxation time, pulsed heat-flux characteristic time and photo-generated carrier lifetime.
Findings
The results indicate that the coupled field variables are strongly affected by the relaxation and carrier-related parameters. Increasing the thermal relaxation time and the pulsed heat-flux characteristic time reduces the amplitudes of the thermal, mechanical, plasma and porosity responses, demonstrating a clear attenuation effect on the induced waves. The photo-generated carrier lifetime has a pronounced influence on carrier-density distribution and modifies the associated temperature, displacement, void volume fraction and stress fields. The results further show that all field responses are most significant near the boundary and gradually decay with increasing distance.
Originality/value
This work provides a comprehensive analytical treatment of laser-induced photo-thermoelastic interactions in porous semiconductor materials by incorporating thermal relaxation, plasma transport and porosity effects in a unified model. The proposed formulation and results offer useful insight into wave attenuation, penetration depth and coupled transport behavior, which may support the theoretical analysis and design of semiconductor-based photothermal, optoelectronic and microelectronic systems.