The thermal diffusivity is one of the physical properties that are among the most important in a material. Its determination presents several difficulties that require the use of accurate techniques that supply trustworthy values. In this work will be present the utilization of the thermal lens spectroscopy (TLS) as a technique to determine the thermal diffusivity (D) of transparent materials. As example are discussed the values of the thermal diffusivity of polycrystalline materials, glasses, polymer and liquid crystals. When compared with conventional techniques, the TLS presents the advantage to be rapid, to measure small sample size and to give accurate values at room temperature in the process of determination of the thermal diffusivity. When in concomitant use with other techniques it allows the determination of other thermo-optical parameters. In other words, the thermal lens spectroscopy is a powerful tool in the determination of thermo-optical parameters of transparent materials.
thermal diffusivity; thermal lens spectroscopy; transparent ferroelectric ceramics
