The mirage technique is proved to be powerful in measuring the thermal diffusivity of materials. In particular, its contactless nature makes it suitable for delicate samples and microscale structures. In this study, thermal-wave-coupling method is developed in a general form for both thermally thin and thick samples. In the suggested measuring scheme, the probe beam can be positioned close to the pump beam and the absolute position need not be measured. Therefore the new scheme provides a relatively simple yet effective way to determine the thermal diffusivity of thermally thick samples. Thermal diffusivities of bulk samples like Ni and Al were measured and the characteristics of mirage signal for a thin film were observed by using the mirage experimental setup. The apparent thermal diffusivity was measured by varying such parameters as probe beam height, size of pump beam, power of pump beam, and surface condition of sample. From the practical standpoint, it is shown that the size of the pump beam is the most important factor for accurate thermaldiffusivity measurement. Experiments using thin-film samples show that the thermal diffusivity of a substrate covered with thin film can be measured by photothermal mirage signals.