Nonscanning Brillouin spectroscopy applied to solid materials

We report the first observation of Brillouin spectra of solid samples by using a nonscanning one-pass Fabry-Perot interferometer with a high finesse of 80. Obtained acoustic parameters of a quartz glass are in good agreement with those measured by a conventional scanning multipass Fabry-Perot interferometer. The acquisition time of the present nonscanning interferometer for measuring one meaningful Brillouin spectrum is remarkably reduced in comparison with the scanning one. It has been demonstrated that the present spectrometer is a very powerful tool in the real-time monitoring of transient acoustic properties of condensed matters, like changes in the sound velocity and the damping factor during liquid-glass transitions. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.