[INVITED] Laser generation and detection of ultrafast shear acoustic waves in solids and liquids

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the up-to-date findings related to ultrafast shear acoustic waves. Recent progress obtained for the laser generation and detection of picosecond shear acoustic waves in solids and liquids is reviewed. Examples in which the transverse isotropic symmetry of the sample structure is broken in order to permit shear acoustic wave generation through sudden laser heating are described in detail. Alternative photo-induced mechanisms for ultrafast shear acoustic generation in metals, semiconductors, insulators, magnetostrictive, piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials are reviewed as well. With reference to key experiments, an all-optical technique employed to probe longitudinal and shear structural dynamics in the GHz frequency range in ultra-thin liquid films is described. This technique, based on specific ultrafast shear acoustic transducers, has opened new perspectives that will be discussed for ultrafast shear acoustic probing of viscoelastic liquids at the nanometer scale.