Acousto-optic interaction

Conventional

341

mirror

Fig. 13.11
A divergent beam reflected by (a) a conventional mirror, (b) a phase conjugate mirror.

we shall now discuss. An acoustic wave propagating in a material will cause a strain, and the strain may cause a change in the dielectric constant (refiactive index). The relationship berween the change in the dielectric constant and the strain is given by the so-called strain optic tensor. In the sirnplest case. when only one coeffrcient needs to be considered. this rnav be i.r'ritten in the form:

/r\ : ot. lt/

(r3

10)

where p is the photoelastic coefficient, and S is the strain. Thus. we can produce a volume hologram simply by launching an acoustic rvave. But is a volume hologram much good if it moves'J Well. it is all relatir.e. For us anvthing mor.ing with the speed of sound appears to be t'ast. but tbr an elecrromagnetic rvave which propagates by nearly five orders of magnitude faster than a sound rvave. the hologram appears to be practically stationary. There is. hou'ever. an efl-ect characteristic to moving gratings that I musr menrion. and that is the Doppler shift. The frequency of the electromagneric rvave is shifted by the frequency of the acoustic wave, an effect that comes occasionalh'useful in signal processing. Let us now work out the frequency ofan acoustic rvave needed to deflect an optical wave of 633 nm wavelength (the most popular line of a He-Ne laser) by, say, 2o. The Bragg angle is then l'. Taking further LiNbO3 as the material in which the waves interact, we find for the grating spacing,
A_

l
2n sin?

633

10-e
1o

2 x 2.29 x sin

:1.92vm,

(13.11a)

A is the required wavelength of the acoustic'uvave.

Noting that the velocity of a longitudinal wave in LiNbO: is 6.57

fsee Table 13.3] we find for the frequency ,f : 8.30 x 108 Hz.

of the

103

acoustic wave

This is regarded as quite high

, be used for

modulation as well. When the acoustic wave is on, the power in the transmitted beam decreases, and a diffracted beam appears. Thus. by varying the amplitude of the acoustic wave, both output beams are rnodulated. It may be an advantage to use the diffracted beam as the modulated beam because the power in it is completely cut offwhen the acoustic wave is absent, rvhereas it is less straightforward to extinguish the transmitted beam. Could we use an acoustic wave for scanning the optical beam within a certain angular region? It can be done in more than one way. I shall just show the arrangement which makes the best sense in principle.

Adevice which can deflect an optical beam can, of course

fiequency, which cannot be excited

without exercising due care, but

nevenheless such an acoustic wave

can be produced in bulk LiNbO: and can be duly used for deflecting

an optical beam. The device

known as a Bragg cell.

is