One of several topics associated with laser‐induced sound that has received great interest in recent years is the generation of underwater sound by a laser above a water surface. Although preceded by many noteworthy contributions (dating back to nineteenth century papers by Alexander Graham Bell on the “photophone”), the first experiments explicitly exhibiting the effect were reported in JETP Letters in 1971 by F. V. Bunkin and his colleagues at the P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute. Since that time approximately 100 papers have appeared on the subject; extensive contributions have been made by V. M. Komissarov, A. I. Bozhkov, O. V. Rudenko, K. A. Naugol'nykh, L. M. Lyamshev, S. G. Kasoev, L. V. Sedov, A. M. Prokhorov, S. V. Egerev, Al. A. Kolomenskii, A. A. Karabutov, and many others. Several reviews have been recently published by Lyamshev, Sedov, and Naugol'nykh. In addition to calling attention to this research on a new and exciting area of acoustics, the present paper is offered with the hope that an independent overview may be helpful to those desiring a greater familiarity with the subject. [Work supported by ONR, Code 425‐UA.]

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