Important effects of the finite size of the probe beam occur in optical beam deflection experiments when the probe beam radius is of the order of magnitude of the thermal diffusion length. The calculation of this effect is checked by experiments in air at frequencies around 10 kHz and in liquids around 100 Hz. In this last case, for certain values of the modulation frequency and of the probe beam‐sample surface distance, the amplitude of the deflection exhibits a sharp minimum and its phase varies drastically.