A report on the adequacy of the collinear mirage technique for thermal diffusivity measurements on bulk homogeneous solids is presented. A 3D theoretical model for collinear deflection has been developed from which two simple linear relations between measurable parameters and the thermal diffusivity have been obtained. Two methods, the so-called zero-crossing and phase methods, are discussed in detail. The second one seems to be a promising tool for thermal diffusivity determination. It has been validated by means of experimental measurements on a set of samples with known thermal diffusivities. The technique is restricted to semitransparent solids but is also valid for materials with either high or low thermal diffusivities, being specially useful for this last group.