Thermal waves in materials with inhomogeneous thermal conductivity

Abstract: Plane thermal waves in media with linearly varying thermal conductivity are analyzed, where we allow for an internal heat source arising from optical absorption. Then we apply the result to calculate the surface temperature of a semi-infinite solid in a photothexmal experiment. We show how we can infer an inverse procedure that is able to yield, from only a few experimental data, a linear conductivity profile that reveals the most important aspects of the actual profile. 1