Optothermal transient emission radiometry

Reports the development of a new technique-optothermal transient emission radiometry (OTTER)-for studying optical absorption, thermal diffusivities and associated properties in opaque materials. In essence, the technique makes use of the information content of the thermal emission transient observed by means of a wideband infrared detector, following pulsed optical excitation of the material. Some preliminary observations, including a study of several commercial pigments are presented.