An approach to adhesive bond characterisation using guided acoustic waves in multi-layered plates

An approach for the non-destructive characterisation of adhesive bonds using guided ultrasonic waves is presented. Pulsed laser radiation is used to thermoacoustically excite broadband ultrasonic waves in a multi-layered sample, consisting of a metal plate adhesively joined to a polymeric layer using synthetic resin. The resulting signals are received by a purpose-built piezoelectric transducer. Varying the distance between excitation and detection yields spatio-temporal measurement data, from which the dispersive properties of the propagating waves can be inferred using a two-dimensional Fourier transform, assuming the plates to act as coupled waveguides. Coupled multi-layered waveguides show an effect referred to as mode repulsion, where the distance between certain modes in the frequency-wavenumber domain is assumed to be a measure of coupling strength. Measurements at different stages of curing of the adhesive layer are performed and evaluated. A comparison of the results shows changes in the dispersive properties, namely an increased modal bandwidth for the fully cured sample as well as an increased modal distance.

Time-domain Measurement and Analysis of Differential Mode Delay and Modal Bandwidth of Graded-Index Multimode Fiber in SDM Networks

A novel differential mode delay (DMD) and modal bandwidth measurement technique for a multi-mode optical fiber based on time-domain method has been proposed and analyzed. Mode-dependent loss (MDL) is known to have a detrimental impact on the capacity of multi-mode fiber systems. The bandwidth behavior of 50 μm/62.5 μm graded-index multimode fibers (GI-MMFs) is investigated by launching a temporal pulse into the fiber and measuring the output time-domain waveform to understand and characterize the effect of DMD. The baseband response is measured by observing the broadening of a narrow input pulse (time-domain measurement). This paper verifies the degradation in bandwidth due to profile distortion by the maximum radial shift (starting from the center of the fiber) and the number of steps. The impact due to DMD on GI-MMF performance has been analyzed through fiber transfer function, pulse width and phase changes.