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Acousto-optics is a branch of physics that studies the interactions between sound waves and light waves, especially the diffraction of laser light by ultrasound (or sound in general) through an ultrasonic grating. A diffraction image showing the acousto-optic effect.
An acousto-optic modulator (AOM), also called a Bragg cell or an acousto-optic deflector (AOD), uses the acousto-optic effect to diffract and shift the frequency of light using sound waves (usually at radio-frequency). They are used in lasers for Q-switching, telecommunications for signal modulation, and in spectroscopy for frequency control.
An acousto-optical spectrometer (AOS) is based on the diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves. [1] A piezoelectric transducer, driven by the RF signal (from the receiver), generates an acoustic wave in a crystal (the so-called Bragg-cell). This acoustic wave modulates the refractive index and induces a phase grating.
Acousto-optic modulators are used to vary and control laser beam intensity. A Bragg configuration gives a single first order output beam, whose intensity is directly linked to the power of RF control signal. The rise time of the modulator is simply deduced by the necessary time for the acoustic wave to travel through the laser beam.
For a simple plane-mirror cavity, the allowed modes are those for which the separation distance of the mirrors L is an exact multiple of half the wavelength of the light λ, such that L = qλ / 2, where q is an integer known as the mode order. In practice, L is usually much greater than λ, so the relevant values of q are large (around 10 5 to ...
An acousto-optic deflector (AOD) is a device that uses the interaction between sound waves and light waves to deflect or redirect a laser beam. AODs are essentially the same as acousto-optic modulators (AOMs). In both an AOM and an AOD, the amplitude and frequency of different orders are adjusted as light is diffracted.
A frequency comb or spectral comb is a spectrum made of discrete and regularly spaced spectral lines.In optics, a frequency comb can be generated by certain laser sources.. A number of mechanisms exist for obtaining an optical frequency comb, including periodic modulation (in amplitude and/or phase) of a continuous-wave laser, four-wave mixing in nonlinear media, or stabilization of the pulse ...
Comparison of different diffraction based spectrometers: Reflection optics, refraction optics, fiber/integrated optics [citation needed] Spectroscopes are often used in astronomy and some branches of chemistry. Early spectroscopes were simply prisms with graduations marking wavelengths of light.