Enhanced temperature uniformity by tetrahedral laser heating

Temperature profile on a spherical sample that is heated by laser beams in various geometries while processed in vacuum is analyzed. Sample heating by one or four laser beams was considered. An analytical expression was derived for directional sample heating cases. It suggests an enhanced temperature uniformity over the samples when heated with four diffuse laser beams arranged in a tetrahedral geometry. This was experimentally verified by heating a spherical stainless steel sample by laser beams. Both the calculated and experimentally determined temperature variations over the sample suggest that use of diffuse four beams arranged in tetrahedral geometry would be effective in reducing temperature variation to within 1 K. The enhancement in the temperature uniformity for four diffuse beams arranged in a tetrahedral geometry by a factor of 50 over a single focused beam is promising to accurately measure of thermophysical properties. This drastic improvement in temperature uniformity might even enable atomic diffusion measurements in the undercooled liquid states of the bulk glass forming alloys since Marangoni and gravity driven convection will be substantially reduced. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1804351]