In a SRAS measurement, as in most laser ultrasound techniques, two lasers are used, one for the generation of acoustic waves and one for the subsequent detection of these waves.  Considering first the generation of acoustic waves, an optical amplitude grating, illuminated by the a short pulse pump laser (typically ~1ns), is imaged onto the sample surface. The incident light is thermoelastically absorbed, creating surface acoustic waves, such as Rayleigh waves.  As the laser pulse contains a broad range of frequencies, only the frequencies which match the grating spacing and acoustic velocity of that sample point will be generated. Using a second, continuous wave, laser these surface acoustic waves can then be measured through a number of interferometry techniques. Detection is usually achieved by optical beam deflection.
As Rayleigh waves are non-dispersive the phase velocity of the acoustic wave can be found by
where  is the distance between the grating fringes imaged onto the sample surface and  is the dominant frequency of the wave packet, found by fast Fourier transform.
As the measurement probes the frequency of the wave packet, which does not change along the propagation length, the measured SAW velocity is determined by only the properties of the specimen at the area where the grating pattern is imaged, unlike more traditional time of flight measurements that are influenced by the sample properties along the propagation length. This makes SRAS robust and immune to the aberrating and scattering effects of the microstructure.