Conversion of Light energy to Sound energy

AI Thread Summary
Light energy can be converted to sound energy through various methods, though they differ in complexity. One approach involves using nano material lenses, as discussed in a referenced article. A simpler method includes replacing the battery in a sound-making greeting card with a photovoltaic cell to convert light into sound through phonon generation. Another technique is to coat a material with a thin metal film and use an intense laser pulse to create a strain pulse, resulting in sound. These methods illustrate the diverse ways light can be transformed into sound energy.
Young Learner
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Is there a way to convert light energy to a sound energy?
I read an article and the URL is http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=52646
It is described that nano material lenses are used.
Is there a much simpler way that I convert light to sound?
 
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Young Learner said:
Is there a way to convert light energy to a sound energy?
I read an article and the URL is http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=52646
It is described that nano material lenses are used.
Is there a much simpler way that I convert light to sound?

There is a way which used to be very popular: movie audiences experienced it every time they viewed a film in a theater:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-on-film
 
One simple way to convert light energy to sound energy:

Buy a greeting card that makes some sound when you open it. Remove the battery, and replace it with a Photovoltaic cell. Place the system in the sunlight.
 
When a crystal absorbs light some of the energy is converted to phonons - quantized sound. This happens all the time, but you cannot hear it. I did a lot of this during my dissertation research.

This was first done as a controlled experiment in 1958:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mössbauer_effect
 
Young Learner said:
Is there a much simpler way that I convert light to sound?

A simple way? Coat something with a thin metal film and hit the metal with an intense laser pulse. It will heat quickly, creating a strain pulse in the sample, which is sound.

See, e.g. Nature Photonics 6, 30–34 (2012), "Laser mode feeding by shaking quantum dots in a planar microcavity" (http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v6/n1/abs/nphoton.2011.269.html)
 
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