Patent ID: 7791739

Claim:
A method to inspect a composite material remote target comprising: generating ultrasonic displacements in a surface of the remote target by directing a generation laser beam from a generation laser beam source to the remote target, the generation laser beam being at the same wavelength from the generation laser beam source to the remote target; generating an infrared detection laser beam in a near infrared wavelength range between 0.780 to 1.400 microns; converting the near infrared detection laser beam wavelength to an eye-safe infrared wavelength outside of the near infrared wavelength range; directing the infrared eye-safe detection laser beam to the surface of the remote target; scattering the infrared eye-safe detection laser beam with the ultrasonic surface displacements at the surface to produce phase modulated light; collecting the phase modulated light; and processing the phase modulated light to obtain data representative of the ultrasonic surface displacements at the surface.