photothermal measurement techniques

Thermal parameters of a sample can be determined using photothermal measurement techniques and a theoretical model of modulated heat transport. This model is represented by a partial differential equation having a set of corresponding boundary and initial conditions. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to obtain the analytical solutions (useful to interpret the experimental results) and in this case, the solutions are obtained by numerical methods. We used a software based on the finite element method to analyze the heat conduction in such cases. The versatility of the method is shown by some examples illustrating the 1D and 3D heat conduction. A comparison with experimental results is presented