Acousto-optical modulator.

摘要

An acousto-optical modulator comprising an interaction medium (21) and a transducer (23, 24) on one face of the interaction medium. The transducer (23, 24) is optically isolated from the interaction medium (21) by an optical isolation layer (22). Electrical signals are applied to create a periodic alternating strain field (30) within the transducer. This field is transmitted into the interaction medium (21) to create a shallow strain diffraction grating at a modulating surface (22 min ). A light beam (26) is projected so as to undergo a total internal reflection at this modulating surface, a portion of the light (26 min ) being selectively diffracted out of the incident beam.