2. Acousto-optical components

2.1 Classification of acousto-optical components

The properties of acousto-optic interaction translate into the design and manufacture of efficient components for the following optical functions: intensity modulation, deflection and filtering. Moreover, in all cases, the diffracted wave is affected by a frequency shift, positive or negative depending on the direction of propagation, equal to the frequency of the elastic wave. The operating principle of a diffracted single-order acousto-optic component is shown in figure 14 .